Jurassic Park
by KingdomHeartsNerd
Summary: Jurassic Park: A dinosaur-style theme park... what could possibly go wrong? Join seventeen year old James Hammond and his twenty-one year sister, Kara, as they embark on the adventure of a life time along side Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler, and try to help their grandfather get his theme park off of the ground. But with real life dinosaurs... things are obviously going to go wrong.
1. Accidents, Amber and Alan Grant

**Jurassic Park: **_A dinosaur-style theme park... what could possibly go wrong? Join seventeen year old James Hammond and his twenty-one year sister, Kara, as they embark on the adventure of a life time along side Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler, and try to help their grandfather get his theme park off of the ground. But with real life dinosaurs... things are obviously going to go wrong._

* * *

**Friday, April 23rd, 1993: Isla Nublar**

**120 miles west of Costa Rica**

**02:00am**

The early morning of April 23rd was dark, wet and dingy; the trees rattled, thudded against each other and shook, as a dark-skinned man, dressed in luminescent overalls, stared up at the trees. About ten men stood behind him, all armed with taser, and one of them was chewing gum; all eleven of them looked determined - and for good reason; they knew that their lives were on the line as Kara Hammond - John Hammond's eldest granddaughter, who was currently on sight as his representative - would skin them alive if anything went wrong.

Robert Muldoon - the game warden of Jurassic Park - who was a burly fifty year old man dressed in khakis, with deep blue eyes and a steel gray mustache - stood behind them all, a M72 LAW in his hands; he cocked it and readied himself for what he knew would be one very long and difficult night, though he had no idea just how difficult it would actually be.

A large silver cage, completed barred - except for little tiny holes in between - was pushed through the trees by a forklift; with a gentle bump - which made Muldoon, who knew what was inside the cage, wince - it landed on the ground.

"Get this cage moving!" called Muldoon, and several men ran forward. "I want tasers on full charge!"

As they gripped the cage, the thing inside screeched and they backed away; Muldoon ordered them back to her post as a woman aged twenty, watched from nearby.

"Now, push!" cried Muldoon; the men began to push the cage forward. It reached the edge of the enclosure and the red light went to green as the cage and enclosure connected; Muldoon called "Good, now step away!" and the men, glad to be away from the cage, retreated backwards.

"Gate keeper!" called Muldoon and the gate keeper, Jophery, the dark skinned man from before, moved forward, climbed onto the top of the cage, crouched and gripped the top of the gates. "Jophery, open the gates!"

He lifted the front of the cage and the thing inside seized it's chance. It jerked backwards, sending the cage shooting backwards about a foot and sending Jophery tumbling to the floor; several men ran forward, in an attempt to stop the cage, but were buffetted backwards.

Jophery landed on the floor and was immediately gripped by the animal in the cage; it, screeching like something incredibly savage, began to pull him back; the woman wrinkled her nose and put a cross next to his name on the clipboard as Muldoon raced forward to try and rescue Jophery.

Jophery grabbed the edge of the cage, but soon lost his grip and Muldoon grabbed him around the chest and began to pull in the opposite direction to the thing inside the cage.

The creature inside the cage pulled, Jophery was hauled into the air and Muldoon was thrown against the wall; he sooned regained himself, regrabbed Jophery and began to pull; the men began firing taser into the cage at the creature.

"Shoot her!" cried Muldoon, still pulling on Jophery "Have at her!"; inside the cage, the creature's eye locked with Muldoon's and both pulled harder.

_"SHOOT HER!"_ hollered Muldoon as Jophery's hand began opening and closing, and, as Muldoon cried _"SHOOOOOT HER!"_again, his hand slipped free of Muldoon's grasp and he was pulled into the cage, where he was promptly devoured.

* * *

**Mano de Dios Amber Mine: Thursday, June 3rd, 1993**

**Dominican Replublic**

**11:00am**

Donald Gennaro, aged forty, wearing a city man's idea of hiking clothes and with a hundred dollar haircut, arrived on a floating raft.

"Hola, Juanito." he greeted, holding out a hand; Juanito Rostagno, who took his hand to help him off the floating raft on which he was stood, was the proprietor of the Mano de Dios Amber Mine, which actually meant 'Hand of God'; thirty-ish and Costa Rican, Juanito was a smart-looking guy in workers clothes.

"Hola, Bienvenido." he replied.

"What's this I hear at the airport?" asked Gennaro, immediately getting to the point of the conversation and not beating around the bush like some people would do. "Hammond's not here?"

"He sends his apologies." Juanito informed Gennaro, as he headed back towards the mine.

"We are facing a $20 million lawsuit by the family of that worker," stated Gennaro, annoyed, as he trotted, rather ungainly, after Juanito. "And you're telling me that Hammond can't even bother to see me!"

"He had to leave early; he wants to be with his daughter," replied Juanito "She's getting a divorce."

"Well, I understand that," Gennaro acknowledged. "But we've been advised to deal with the situation now. The Insurance Company-"

Gennaro's shoes - a rather disgusting shade of orange - slipped on the slightly damp stone and he tumbled forward; it was only through Juanito turning and helping him up, asking "Okay?" in the process, that prevented him from smashing his head into the ground.

"The underwriters feel that the accident has raised some very serious safety questions about the park." continued Gennaro. "That makes the investors very, very anxious. I had to promise to conduct a very thorough on-site inspection."

"Hammond hates inspections," noted Juanito, stopping. "They slow everything down."

"Juanito, they'll pull the funding." Gennaro informed him "That'll slow him down more."

A man had approached, after Gennaro had said the word funding, and was chatting, rather excitedly, in another language that Gennaro could not understand; Juanito followed him to the entrance to the mine.

"Ooh! Aaah!" Gennaro knocked his head against the top of the entrance to the mine as he followed Juanito in.

"Watch your head," called a woman; this woman was Kara Hammond, now aged twenty one, who had been involved in the incident Gennaro was referring too. Kara was tall and curvy with long brown hair and blue eyes; she was dressed in a long white overcoat, a black shirt, black trousers and black shoes all of which were covered in dust from the mine. As she looked down at the clipboard in front of her, which had different sets of information about different sets of amber on it, a pair of glasses - which she didn't need and only wore to look more professional - slipped down her nose. She took them off, wiped the dust off them with her sleeve and put them back on, pushing them up with one long, thin, dusty and mud coated finger.

"If two experts sign off on the island, the insurance guys will back off." stated Gennaro, noting her presence. "I've already got Ian Malcolm, but they think he's too trendy. They want Alan Grant."

From inside a tunnel near Kara, a male voice cried "Ow!" as there was a thud from inside the tunnel and the voice continued, "I must be doing deaf - I'm sure he just said Alan Grant."

One of the miners handed Juanito a rock of amber; Juanito, taking the amber off the miner said. "Grant? Ha! You'll never get him out of Montana."

"Why not?" questioned Gennaro in reply; when Juanito did not answer, and moved aside to let a shaft of light shine on the amber, Gennaro asked "Why not?" again.

"Because Grant's like me." Juanito stated, holding up the sparkling amber. "He's a digger."

The person from the tunnel emerged; it was a tall skinny boy with shoulder length brown hair, which was coated with dust, and brown eyes which were behind a pair of goggles that were strapped over his face and he, like Kara, was dressed entirely in black with a lab coat over the top. Straightening up, he brushed himself down for a moment and, along with Kara, moved to Juanito's side. He looked up to Kara and said "How's that for a birthday present, sis?" as he placed a hand onto her shoulder "Happy twenty first!"

* * *

**The Next Day: Friday, June 4th, 1993**

**Badlands**

**Near Snakewater, Montana**

**12:35pm**

In the dig site near Snakewater Montana itself, the ground was checkered with excavations everywhere. There was a base camp with five or six teepees, a flapping mess tent, a few cards, a flatbed truck with wrapped fossils loaded on it, and a mobile home. There were a dozen volunteers of all ages at work in various places around the dig. The Volunteers were from all walks of life, but all of them were dinosaur buffs. Three or four of them had children with them, and the kids ran around, like in a giant sandbox.

"Doctor Grant, Doctor Sattler, we're ready to try again." called one of the men from the flapping mess tent as he reached the top of the hill where they were working.

Doctor Alan Grant, a ragged-looking guy with intense concentration you wouldn't want to get in the way of in his mid thirties stood up, sighing, as he moaned "I hate computers."

Ellie Sattler, in her late twenties, was athletic-looking. There was an impatience about Ellie, as if nothing in life happened quite fast enough for her and she longed for adventure. She, as was well known, was the lover of Alan. She stood up, and tied the red bandana around Alan's neck.

"The feeling's mutual." she assured him; she put an arm around him, and he put an arm around her. Together, in the blistering heat, the two of them trudged their was down to the flapping mess tent. As they arrived at the tent, two men clambered onto a machine, inserted a small blast grenade into the machine and slammed the two ends together; the device in the middle shot downwards and the blast grenade exploded as it entered the ground, sending radar under the ground.

Alan watched it and then, with Ellie by his side, moved to the computer that would pick up the radar signals.

"How long does this usually take?" inquired Ellie, standing behind the man who was sat at the computer.

"Should give an immediate return." he replied, staring up at the screen. "Shoot the radar into the ground and the bone bounces the image back." The image began to appear on the screen "This read out's incredible! A few more years development and we won't even have to dig anymore."

"Where's the fun in that?" inquired Alan, who was leaning on one of the wooden poles of the flapping mess tent.

"It's a little distorted," said the man sat at the computer. "But I think that's the computer."

Ellie looked at the screen; almost instantly, she recognised the creature on the screen and asked "Velociraptor?"

"Yeah," agreed Alan, moving forward. "Good shape too. Five or six feet high, I'm guessing nine feet long. Look at the-"

He was cut off as his finger touched the screen and it fizzed, going to static for a moment, before reshowing the image; the man on the computer looked to Ellie and asked "What did he do?"

"He touched it!" laughed Ellie playfully, as Alan put his hand onto the top of the computer, which made it fizz to static again "Doctor Grant's not machine compatible."

"They've got it in for me." Alan agreed, before pointing to the feet of the Velociraptor "Look at the half-moon shaped bone in the wrist. No wonder these guys learned to fly!" the group laughed, leaving Alan surprised "Now, seriously. Show of the hands. How many of you have read my book?" only two people - namely Ellie, and the man sat at the computer - raised their hands. Alan sighed "Great. Well maybe dinosaurs have more in common with present-day birds than reptiles. Look at the pubic bone - it's turned backwards, just like a bird. The vertebrae - - full of hollows and air sacs, just like a bird. Even the word raptor means "bird of prey"."

"That doesn't look very scary!" came a voice from nearby "More like a six foot turkey."

Everyone drew in their breath and stepped aside, revealing a obese twelve year old kid, standing alone. Alan turned to the Kid, lowered his sunglasses, and stared at him like he just came from another planet, giving him a glare that, if looks could kill, would. He strolled over to the kid and put his arms around his shoulders in a friendly way.

"Try to imagine yourself in the Cretaceous Period," began Alan, to the boy (Rolling her eyes, Ellie muttered "Here we go" under her breath) "You'd get your first look at the six-foot turkey as you move into a clearing. But the raptor, he knew you were there a long time ago. He moves like a bird; lightly, bobbing his head, And you keep still, because you think maybe his visual acuity's based on movement, like a T- rex, and he'll lose you if you don't move. But no. Not Velociraptor. You stare at him, and he just stares back. That's when the attack comes - not from the front, but from the side, from the other two raptors you didn't even know were there."

Alan began to circle the kid, still talking as he did so "Velociraptor's a pack hunter, you see, he uses coordinated attack patterns, and he's out in force today. And he slashes at you with this -" Alan held a raptor claw between his fingers and held it up so the boy could see it; his face went pale and he gulped, nervously, as Alan continued "A six-inch retractable claw, like a razor, on the middle toe. They don't bother to bite the jugular, like a lion, they just slash here, here -" he moved the claw quickly through the air in front of the boy's chest and thigh "- or maybe across the belly," he moved the raptor claw gently across the boy's immensely round midsection. "spilling your intestines. Point is, you're alive when they start to eat you. Whole thing took about four seconds. So, you know, try to show a little respect."

"Ok." breathed the boy, anxiously, examining himself for wounds as Alan headed back across the camp, returning to his skeleton. Ellie hurried to catch up with him.

"You know, if you _really_ wanted to scare the kid you could've just pulled a gun on him," she stated, as she caught up with him.

He sighed, removing his hat from his head before saying "Yeah, I know. Anyway... kids! You want to have one of _those?_"

"I don't want _that kid_!" replied Ellie, gesturing in the direction of the kid. "But a breed of child, Doctor Grant, could be intriguing. I mean, what's so wrong with kids?"

"Oh, Ellie, look." replied Alan, beginning to count off the reasons on his hand. "They're noisy, they're messy, they're sticky, they're expensive."

"Cheap, cheap, cheap!" taunted Ellie under her breath.

"They smell." added Alan.

"They do _not _smell!" Ellie snapped, looking up at him.

"Some of them smell!" he retorted. _"Babies smell!"_

And... with that, he considered the arguement won. He didn't really have much choice for a strange wind seemed to be whipping up. He and Ellie looked around, confused. The wind was getting stronger, blowing dirt and sand everywhere, filling in everything they'd dug out, blowing the protective canvasses off. Then there was a more familiar roar, and they looked up and saw it -

- a huge helicopter, descending on the camp.

"Get some canvasses and cover anything that's exposed!" cried Ellie, as she and Alan ran down the hill towards the helicopter.

Down at the base camp, the helicopter had landed. The pilot was already out, waiting as Alan came down from the mountaintop like Moses, steaming angrily as he gestured wildly at him to turn the chopper off. The pilot pointed timidly to a mobile home across the camp. Alan ran to the trailer.

The door to the trailer burst open, clunking behind Alan as it swung on the hinges.

The trailer served as the dig's office. There were several long wooden tables set up, every inch covered with bone specimens that were neatly laid out, tagged, and labelled. Farther along were ceramic dishes and crocks, soaking other bones in acid and vinegar. There was old dusty furniture at one end of the trailer, and a refrigerator; an old man dressed in white was washing up a cup, while a teen, bottom in the air, was rummaging around in the fridge.

"Ooh!" he began "Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Grand Cru, from Cote de Nuits, France. This stuff's expensive - most expensive in the world, actually. How'd an archeologist afford this on their salary? Hey, grandpa, will this do?" he handed the bottle to the old man, who began to pull on the cork.

"What the hell are you doing in here?"

The old man whirled around and popped the cork; the teen cried _"OW!"_ as his head smashed against the top of the fridge "For the love of Kara's underwear, that hurt!"; the cork soared over the head of the Alan, ricocheted off of the wall and flew out of the open window where it landed in a metallic water collecter.

"Good shot!" complimented the teen; the old man, John Hammond, aged sixty five, was sprightly as hell, with bright, shining eyes that said "Follow me!"

"Hey!" exclaimed Alan "We were saving that!"

"For today, I guarantee it."

"Who in god's name do you think you are?" inquired Alan, pointing a finger at Hammond's chest as he took the bottle of wine from him.

"John Hammond." Replied Hammond, shaking the finger pleasantly, as if being threatened by a very scary and very angry archeologist happened to him every day "And I'm delighted to meet you finally in person, Doctor Grant." He blew some dust off of his hand "And this," he gestured to the teen "is my eldest grandson - James."

"Mr H-?" muttered Alan.

"Still, I can see my fifty thousand a year has been well spent!"

The door burst open with another clatter. Ellie, looking furious, leaped the stairs in one go, and cried "Ok, who's the jerk?"

"Uh," began Alan, putting out a hand to grab Ellie's arm "This is our paleobotanist, Doctor-"

"-Sattler." she introduced herself.

"Ellie, this is Mr Hammond." Alan informed her.

She, disbelievingly, moved forward and shook his hand as Hammond said "Sorry about our dramatic entrance, Doctor Sattler, but we're in a bit of a hurry. Will you have a drink? We don't want it to get warm - come on, sit down. No, no, I can manage that Jimmy, just go and sit down - honestly, why do you and your sister think I am useless in the kitchen?"

Hammond pulled out four glasses and poured the wine into the glasses, as he continued speaking "Now, I'll get right to the point. I like you - both of you. I can tell instantly about people; it's a gift. I have an island, off the coast of Costa Rica; I've leased it from the Government and I've spent the last five years - with the help of Jimmy and his sister, of course - setting up a kind of biological preserve. Really spectacular - spared no expense; makes the one I've got down in Kenya look like a petting zoo. And there's no doubt... our attractions will drive kids out of their minds."

"And what are those?"

"Small versions of adults, honey." Whispered Ellie in reply; she got a dirty look from Alan for her efforts.

"And not just kids," began Hammond again, as if he hadn't even heard Alan's question "Everyone. We're going to open next year - that is, if the lawyers don't kill me first -I don't care for lawyers. You?"

"Oh, uh, we don't really know any." chorused Alan and Ellie together.

"Lucky." Muttered James, downing the glass of wine that Hammond put down in front of him.

"Well, I do." Noted Hammond, "There's one, a particular pebble in my shoe. He represents my investors. He says they insist on outside opinions."

"What kind of opinions?" Inquired Ellie.

"Well, your kind, not to put a fine point on it. Let's face it, in your particular field, you're the top minds. If I could just get you two to sign off on the park - you know, give a wee testimonial - I could get back on schedule."

"Why would they care what we think?" wondered Ellie, aloud.

"What kind of park is it?" Alan asked.

Hammond placed another two drinks in front of his grandson, only just noticing the other one was empty; turning to Alan, he said "Well, it's - it's right up your alley." He handed Grant a drink after getting out another glass "Look, why don't you pair of you down for the weekend? Love to have the opinion of a paleobotoanist as well." This time, he handed Ellie a drink. "I've got a jet standing by at Choteau." He jumped up and sat on the counter as James murmured "Bananas... he he... walking bananas with cream pies. Walking bananas in hula skirts with cream pies! He he!"

"No, I'm sorry, that wouldn't be possible." replied Alan, giving James a strange look, "We've just discovered a new skeleton, and-"

"I could compensate you by fully funding your dig." Hammond informed them, as he poured a drink for himself.

"- This would be an awfully unusual time - " started Ellie and Alan.

"For a further three years." Added Hammond.

"Well," began Ellie, as she clinked her glass against Alan's.

He finished her question for her "Where's the plane?"

He, Ellie and Hammond all clinked their cups together and Alan and Ellie hugged; James cried "Bananas!" and toppled backwards off of his chair as he too, tried to clink his glass against Ellie.

"Ignore him." Hammond began, glancing down to his grandson. "He'll be fine."

* * *

_To Be Continued._


	2. Welcome to Jurassic Park

**Friday, June 11th, 1993: Off the Coast of Isla Nublar**

**120 miles west of Costa Rica**

**12:00pm**

A helicopter, _INGEN CONSTRUCTION_ emblazoned on the side, skimmed low over the shimmering Pacific towards Hammond's Island; Isla Nublar was the smallest of the Five Deaths, but for Hammond's use, it was perfect. Not too big, but not too small. It was exactly the prefect size and had exactly the perfect eco-system to sustain his park.

Inside the hellicopter, Alan pulled out the raptor claw that was stored in his inside pocket and twiddled with it.

"So you two um, dig-dig up dinosaurs?" inquired a man from opposite Alan, who was sat next to Ellie, who in turn was sat next to Hammond. The man was a tall, thin, balding man of thirty five, dressed entirely in black; black shirt, black trousers, black socks, black sneakers.

Ellie laughed; looking to Alan she breathed "Well,"

"Try to." finished Alan for her; this sent the man into a flurry of laughter; clutching his side he howled with laughter, causing James, who was sat next to him, to groan and smack him, giving him a glare.

"You'll have to get used to Doctor Malcolm." noted Hammond, as he clutched his amber topped staff regally. "He suffers from a deplorable excessive personality - especially for a mathematician."

"Chaotician. Chaotician!" corrected Malcolm, as he popped a piece of gum into his mouth; Donald Gennaro, the lawyer from the amber mine, now dressed in safari clothes, everything straight from the Banana Republic, just stared at him for a moment as Hammond snorted, not even attempting to cover his contempt for Malcolm.

"John doesn't subscribe to Chaos, particularly what it has to say about his little science project." noted Malcolm, as if Hammond had never interrupted.

"Codswallop." interrupted James, who - suffering a slight allergic reaction to the wine he'd drunk a week prior - was steadying himself with one hand on his head. "God, I feel like I've just been trampled! - now, Malcolm was it? Yes, you've never been able to explain these concerns of yours. If there was any concern - any at all - we would never have left Kara there."

"I certainly have!" noted Malcolm, slightly offended. "Very clearly! Because of the behavior of the system in phase space!"

"A load, if I may say so," began Hammond, annoyed. "Of fashionable number crunching!"

Malcolm reaching out to tap Hammond's knee said, exasperatedly "John, John."

"Don't do that!" snapped Hammond. He attempted to protest, but Malcolm ignored him and looked over to Alan and Ellie; hoping to gain an ally he asked "Dr. Grant, Dr. Sattler - you've heard of Chaos Theory?"

Shaking her head, Ellie replied "No."

"No?" inquired Malcolm "Non-linear equations? Strange attractions?" Ellie shook her head again; Malcolm, shocked, exclaimed "Dr. Sattler, I refuse to believe that you are not familiar with the concept of attraction!"

Alan rolled his eyes as Malcolm gave her an oily grin, but Ellie smiled, enjoying Alan's jealousy.

Hammond turned to Gennaro and gave him a dirty look, and said "I bring scientists, you bring a rockstar."

Gennaro looked annoyed and exasperated; Hammond turned away, and, out of the window near Grant, noticed his island. In an almost disbelieving breath, as if he cannot actually believe he had Alan and Ellie almost on his island, he said "There it is."

Up ahead, the others saw it. Isla Nublar. It was a smallish island, covered, more-or-less, entirely in trees and completely ringed by thick clouds that gave it a lush, mysterious feel. The pilot pulled up over a spot in the clouds and started to descend, fast.

"Bad wind sheers," noted Hammond, as James's head smacked against the back of his chair with a loud thump. "We have to drop pretty fast! Hold on, this can be a little thrilling!"

The helicopter dropped like a stone. Outside the windows, they could cliff walls racing by, uncomfortably close. They bounced like hell, hitting wind up and down drafts.

"Yahoo!" cried Hammond, as the helicopter dropped again; they all laughed in agreement. Gennaro, looking absolutely terrified (to James's satisfaction) pulled the two ends of his seatbelt together; Malcolm, James, Hammond and Ellie all did the same; Alan struggled with his for a minute and resulted into tying the two into a knot to keep them shut.

Hammond, apparently, hadn't noticed, and was the only one who felt up to talking.

We're planning an airstrip!" he informed them, pointing down to where an airstrip was, indeed, being built. "On pilings, extending out into the ocean twelve thousand feet! Like La Guardia, only a lot safer! What do you think?"

They didn't answer, and just held on. As they neared the ground, a luminous white cloud cross appeared below them, a landing pad shone through the Plexiglas bubble in the floor of the chopper; the luminous landing pad reflected the water of the waterfall from behind them. The cross grew rapidly larger as the chopper plummeted, but a sudden updraft caught them and they bounced skyward for a moment then dropped again, even faster if possible, before landing with a hard bump.

The door opened as the chooper's blades stopped; Hammond stepped out first and James, momentarily tripping over the small ledge on the edge of the helicopter and almost falling flat onto his face, followed him. Malcolm, Gennaro, Alan and Ellie all stepped out. Two open topped jeeps, both red and grey, rattled down the road towards them.

Ellie, Alan and Malcolm climbed into the first jeep while Hammond, James and Gennaro climbed into the second one. Both jeeps set off with a lurch, causing James, who had just sat down, to lurch uncontrollably, backwards into his seat.

The two jeeps set off; they passed through an enormous gate in a thirty foot high fence, which was closed behind them by two park attendants. There are large electrical insulators on the fences, warning lights that strobe importantly and clear signs reading _ELECTRIFIED FENCE! 10,000 VOLTS!_

In the reer jeep, Gennaro, always a stickler, regarded the electric fences critically before asking "The full fifty mile of perimeter fence are in place?"

"And the concrete moats, and the motion sensor tracking systems." replied Hammond, smiling happily as James flicked his left leg over his right and began to read the inboard maps. "Donald, dear boy, relax. Do try and enjoy yourself."

"Let's get something straight, John." began Gennaro in reply. "This is not a weekend excursion, this is a serious investigation of the stability of the island. Your investors, whom I represent, are deeply concerned. Forty-eight hours from now, if they-" h gestured to Alan, Ellie and Malcolm in the front jeep with his pencil "-aren't convinced. I'm not convinced. And I can shut you down John."

"He he he." Laughed Hammond, slightly maliciously; pointing at Gennaro, he said "In fourty-eight hours, I'll be accepting your apology."

The jeeps wound their way along a mountain road, past trees and into a massive open clearing filled with grass and a collosal lake.

Hammond stood up and tapped the driver's shoulder before saying "Just stop here, stop here. Slow, slow."

The front jeep, seeing the one behind had stopped, came to a halt too. Ellie, staring at the leaf (which she had plucked off one of the trees) in her hands, didn't notice the jeep had stopped and said "This shouldn't be here."

Alan, however, wasn't paying attention. He was stating out of the other side of the jeep. He noticed that several of the trunks were leafless - just as thick as the other trees, but gray and bare. He twisted in his seat and looked at one of the gray tree trunks. Riveted, he slowly stood up in his seat, as if to get closer. He moved to the top of the seat, practically on his tiptoes. He raised his head, looking up the length of the trunk. He looked higher.

And higher.

And higher.

Then, it hit him like a lightning bolt. It was no tree trunk - it was a leg. His jaw dropped, his head fell all the way back, and he looked even higher, above the tree line.

Still looking at the leaf, Ellie said "This species of vermiform was been extinct since the cretaceous period. This thing-"

Alan, however, was now ignoring her. Never tearing his eyes from the object, he reached over and grabed Ellie's head, turning it to face the animal. She saw it and, jaw falling open, dropped the leaf.

"Oh - my - God." she breathed, barely believing her eyes. Like a rocket, she shot onto her feet, standing, like Alan, on the chair; passing behind a few of the trees, was a fourty foot tall brachiosaur, rumbling happily to itself. Neither Alan nor Ellie needed to use the doors to get out; they leaped off of the chairs, Alan to the left of the jeep and Ellie to the right, before reuniting to stare, awestruck, at the collosally huge animal in front of them.

Pointing at the Brachiosaur, Alan said "It-It's a dinosaur." as Ellie laughed, breathlessly in agreement; James and Hammond climbed out of their jeep and joined Alan and Ellie; as they passed, Ian breathed "You did it. You crazy son of a bitch, you did it."

Alan and Ellie continued walking, following the dinosaur as it plodded along. Alan, almost bouncing like a baby, cried "Ellie, we can tear up the rule book on cold-bloodedness! It doesn't apply, they're totally wrong! This is a warm-blooded creature!"

"This thing doesn't live in swamps!" cried Ellie, happily, in agreement.

"That thing's got a what, twenty-five, twenty-seven foot neck?" Alan inquired of Hammond.

"The brachiosaur?" replied Hammond. "Thirty."

Several of the top branches were suddenly ripped away. The sauropod, reaching for a branch high above their heads, stood effortlessly on its hind legs. It crashed back down, causing the earth to momentarily shake.

Gennaro, who had just sort of faded into the background while the others reacted to the dinosaur, was staring, a look of absolute rapture on his face. He spoke in a voice that was hushed and reverent as he said "We are going to make a fortune with this place."

"How fast are they?" inquired Alan.

"Well, we've clocked the T-Rex at 32 miles an hour." James replied, airily, as if it was an everyday occurence; there was, however, a hint of both pride and arrogance in his voice.

Alan and Ellie froze; Ellie was the first to react. Whirling around to Hammond, she cried "T-T-Rex? He said you've got a T-Rex?"

Alan grabbed Hammond by the shoulder. Looking awestruck and elated he said "Say it again."

"We have a T-Rex." Hammond said, repeating the words of his grandson.

Alan gave a groan, bent double with his hands on his knees; he couldn't believe his ears. Everything he and Ellie had worked to discover for years was right in front of him.

"Honey, put your head between your knees, and breathe." ordered Ellie, reaching his side. She couldn't decide where to look, Alan, or the monumentally colossal dinosaur. When Alan fell to the floor, landing on his bottom, she chuckled, and crouched beside him. It was only the voice of Hammond saying "Doctor Grant, my dear Doctor Sattler, welcome... to Jurassic Park!" that broke him from his thoughts.

A dinosaur bellowed from a distance and he turned to look in the direction Hammond was now facing; emerging from the lake were two more Brachiosaurus and eight Parasaurolophus were drinking from the lake. But the view in front of them them, a beautiful vista, reminiscent of an African plain, revealed that there were more than just these few dinosaurs on the island. In a single glance there had to be at least a hundred Parasaurolophus.

"They're moving in herds." Alan noted, elated. "They _do _move in herds."

Hammond, smiling, crouched by their side, using his staff and James as support.

"How'd you do this?" questioned Alan. His voice was longing to know the answer.

"I'll show you." Hammond replied.

* * *

Five minutes later, after everyone had returned to the jeeps, the two vehicles in question pulled up to the visitor centre. The exterior of the building was made of gray limestone and followed an unusual concave curve; the lower front section, which had flowing water ducts and decorative foliage on either side, followed a convex curve and was split in half by the stairs, which led up to the main entrance door and to the left there was a wheelchair accessible route.

On the door was the design of an egg with sun rays spawning from it on its surface. Around the door were fake engraved dinosaur fossils for effect. Six tall black tinted windows, three on either side, spanned the building along with plants. The top of the building had 3 thatched tiki-hut styled roofs with a larger one in the center to house the main entrance hall. The top also had guard rails, apparently for use as some kind of observation deck. Lush rainforest trees surrounded the area along with an observation pond and a field off to the far left.

Hammond was the first to climb out of the jeep. The other's followed and Hammond led them up the steps to the door. The doors swung open automatically, leading into the main entrance hall; Hammond greeted the workers joyfully and began to lead everyone up the stairs, rambling on about the latest technology. Catching his grandsons' eye, the man gave a covert nod, and James disappeared down another corridor; as he headed through the double doors, he heard Malcolm quip "Don't you mean extinct?"

James, slipping on a pair of goggles and tying his hair up into a ponytail with an elastic band, slipped both arms into the white lab coat; he pushed his way through another set of double doors. His sister, Kara, was leaning backwards against a desk, a clipboard in hand.

Before James or Kara could speak, Hammond entered with Alan, Ellie, Ian and Gennaro; catching sight of his granddaughter, he said "Hey, Kara."

"Oh, hello, Gramps!" she replied, checking her watch; then, she caught sight of her brother and said "Hey, Cricket!"

"Not so loud," groaned James, clamping a hand to his head. "I have a splintering headache!"

"What happened?" she inquired; while her tone was kind, James knew that she was waiting for information that she could use to blackmail him with.

"He's hungover." interrupted Hammond.

"Hungover?" inquired Kara, frowning. "After what?!"

"He had a glass of of wine last week."

"I had three!"

"He what -?" Kara asked, before bursting out laughing; wiping a tear from her eye, she said "Cricket, you are such a lightweight!"

"Do you want me to tell Nathan you dream about him at night and make kissy goo-goo faces into you pillow over him?" retaliated James. For a moment, Kara looked absolutely horrified and James smirked, seeing an advantage. "No? Shame. Then zip it, or I will tell him!"

"I will kill you..." threatened Kara, pointing the eraser of her pencil at him. "...slowly and painfully! Or would you prefer I tell Jess that you dream about her at night? And don't deny it... you talk in your sleep!"

"She's 13, you'll mortify her..." replied James, his face blushing a very bright red, which caused Kara to laugh. "Not to mention the fact that Gerry's a bit freaky."

"All the better... it'll be your ass on the line, not mine!" she laughed. "I'll just get the popcorn and watch you run from an angered father for upsetting his daughter!"

Aiming a kick at his sister's shin, James snapped "I'll tell aunt Elizabeth that _you_ stole uncle Edward's porn, not Tim!"

"Now, now, Cricket, let's not go and blame Tim, we all know that the porn is under _your_ bed!"

"Hey!" snapped James, clamping a hand over his sister's mouth. "That's neither here nor there!"

"For now..." she smirked, as she walked away.

"Oooh, I hate that woman - I really hope Bertha squashes her next time Kara tries to stick the thermometer up her ass!"

Alan had tuned out the conversation - or rather, argument - between the two Hammond siblings and was staring at an incubator. A large, robotic hand was turning the eggs inside the incubator.

"It's turning the eggs!" stated Ellie, breathlessly.

One of the eggs began to move; Ian breathed "Oh, god!"

"Oh, perfect timing!" cried Kara happily, looking down to her watch. "I'd hope they'd hatch before I had to go to the boats."

"Kara, Kara, Kara, why didn't you tell me?!" cried Hammond, pulling on two white sterilized gloves. "I insist on being here when they're born." the egg began to crack. "Come on, come on. Come on, little one! Come on then, come on then. Push! Push!" the head of the dinosaur - small, tiny and covered in some rather disgusting sticky suff - emerged from the egg. "Good girl."

"Oh, god!" cried Ellie, at the sight of it. James couldn't help but sniffle in pride; Kara wacked him with her clipboard.

"Come on then." continued Hammond, lifting a piece of egg shell off of the baby dinosaur. "There. I'm the first creature they come in contact with. Helps them to trust me. I've been present for the birth of every living creature on this island."

"What about the ones that breed in the wild?" inquired Ian.

"Actually, they can't breed in the wild." interrupted Kara. "Population control is part of our security measures. No unauthorised breeding in Jurassic Park."

"How do you know they can't breed?"; once again, it was Ian who had asked the question.

"Because all of the animals in Jurassic Park are female." James replied. "We've engineered them that way."

By now, the little dinosaur had just managed to escape from its egg.

"Blood temperature seems like a high eighties?" suggested Gennaro; Hammond looked to him, then to Kara, who said "Ninety one."

"But again," began Ian. "How do you _know _they're all female? Does someone go out into the park and pull up the dinosaurs skirts?"

"We control their chromosomes; it's really not that difficult." Kara stated. "All vertebrate embryos are inherently female anyway, they just require an extra hormone given at the right developmental time to make them male. We simply deny them that."

"Deny them that?" questioned Ellie.

"John, you can't control genetic templating." stated Ian. "If there's one thing evolution has taught us it's that life will not be contained. Life breaks free. It crashes through barriers, maybe even dangerously. Well... there it is."

"There it is." repeated Hammond.

"You're implying that a group consisting entirely of females will... breed?" inquired Kara, disbelievingly.

"No, I'm simply saying that life will, uh, find a way." Ian was insistant; Kara rolled her eyes, and, quietly, hissed "Why must everyday involve a fight with a lawyer or a chaotician?" to James.

"Lawyers and Chatocians are pugnacious by nature..." he replied, equally as quietly, back to her. "It comes from a deep sense of insecurity because they are not Normal."

"I heard that!" came Ian's indignant voice.

"Good." stated Kara, her voice full of venom. "You were meant to."

Alan, holding the squeaking infant dinosaur, moved a little, so that he was closer to the light. Thinking something that he really didn't want to think, he asked "What species is this?"

"It's a Velociraptor." replied James. "Hand chosen by the research scientists. Though Sorkin had some quarrels."

"Oh, don't mention that woman to me!" hissed Kara, angrily. "She's a dissertation stealing, Troodon breeding, clinically insane freak!"

"Now, hang on!" interrupted James. "I happen to get along with Sorkin."

"Why am I not surprised!"

"You bred Raptors?"; it was Alan that had spoken; it cut off James's reply, leaving him standing there, mouth open. Kara's next action confirmed Alan's worst fears; she nodded. It was a slow nod, one that showed off her pride in what she and the _INGEN_ Research Team had accomplished.

They had brought Velociraptors into the Twentieth Century.

Whether either of them were ready...

Remained to be seen...

* * *

To Be Continued.


	3. Treachery, Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus

**Friday, June 11th, 1993: Isla Nublar**

**120 miles west of Costa Rica**

**12:10pm**

The Velociraptor Cage squealed loudly as the group made their way towards it. It was a large silver building with metallic electric fencing all the way around it; the side of the Cage were made of thick metal that prevented viewing and large metallic steps stuck out of the edge, allowing people to view it from above.

"Doctor Grant!" called Hammond, trotting quickly after Alan who had demanded to see the Velociraptor Cage. "We laid out lunch for you before you headed out into the park. Our gormet chef-"

"What're they doing?" inquired Alan. A large cow was being lowered over the cage.

"Oh, feeding them." replied Hammond, as if it was obvious; Ellie, who had held up a hand to prevent the sun from going into her eyes, looked at him.

"Alejandro's prepared a delightful menu for us: a chilean sea bass I believe." Hammond's attempt at interrupting wasn't working. "Shall we?"

Walking up the metalic steps which thudded underfoot, Alan totally ignored him. Kara trounced happily along behind as the metallic grating over the Velociraptors opened and the cow was finally lowered into the cage. Everything went silent for less than 1/58th of a second, then the cage rattled and shook, screeching and mooing came from inside, the trees were buffetted aside and the metalic pipes - which had been holding the cow - shook violently; Gennaro looked horrified, Ian looked fascinated, Ellie scrunched her eyes shut.

_"They should all be destroyed!"_

The voice that had spoken belonged to Robert Muldoon; now dressed in his usual park gear - namely a pair of grey shorts and a grey shirt - he had completely changed appearance from the night of the accident, though he was still grim-faced.

"Ah, ha ha!" laughed Kara, introducing him. "Robert! Robert Muldoon - Gramps' game warden from Kenya! A bit of an alarmist I'm afraid - you'd get along well with him, Ian - but he knows more about Raptors than anyone."

"What kind of metabolism do they have?" inquired Alan, striding over to Muldoon, now leaning against the edge of the largest part of the Velociraptor Cage shelter. "What's their growth rate?"

"They're lethal at eight months," replied Muldoon, his voice serious, as he stared at Alan. "And I do mean lethal. I've hunted most things that can hunt you, but they way these things move!" here Muldoon cocked his head towards the cage.

"Fast for a biped?"

"Cheetah speed." replied Muldoon, now smirking a little at the fear that had crept into the eyes of everyone but the Hammonds. "Fifty, sixty miles an hour if they ever got out in the open. And they're astonishing jumpers."

"Yes, yes, yes." replied Hammond, holding up a hand to silence Muldoon. "That's why we're taking etreme precautions." He turned away and began talking to Ellie.

"Do they show intelligence?" inquired Alan to Muldoon. "What's their brain capacity?"

"They're extremely intelligent. Even problem solving intelligent - especially The Big One; we bred eight originally, but when she came in she took over the pride and killed all but two of the others. That one, when she looks at you, you can see she's working things out; that's why we have to feed them like this. She had them all attacking the fences when the feeders came - even Sorkin's former Troodons weren't that smart."

"But, the fences are electrified, right?" inquired Ellie: while there was fear in her voice, the wonder shone entirely through.

"That's right." commented Muldoon, smirking at her. "But they never attack the same place twice. They were testing the fences for weaknesses systematically. They remember."

The metalic pipes - formerly containing the cow - clunked and began to rise. At the sight of it, Ian rolled his eyes and Hammond asked "Yes, well, who's hungry?"

* * *

Hammond, Ellie, Alan, Gennaro, Ian, Kara and James all sat around a long table in the visitor's center restaurant. There was a large buffet table and two waiters to serve them. The room was darkened and Hammond was showing slides of various scenes all around them. Hammond's own recorded voice described current and future features of the park while the slides flashed artists' renderings of all them. The real Hammond turned and spoke over the narration.

"None of these attractions have been finished yet." he began, to the table. "The park will open with the basic tour you're about to take, and then other rides will come on line after six or twelve months. Absolutely spectacular designs. Spared no expense."

More slides clicked past, a series of graphs dealing with profits, attendance and other fiscal projections. Donald Gennaro, who had become increasingly friendly with Hammond, even giddy, grinned from ear to ear, completely missing the open glare that Kara was shooting at him - it was so dangerous a glare that if looks could kill, he'd definitely be dead.

"And we can charge anything we want! " he cried, loudly and arrogantly. "Two thousand a day, ten thousand a day - people will pay it! And then there's the merchandising -"

Hammond interrupted him almost instantly. "Donald, this park was not built to carter only to the super rich. Everyone in the world has got a right to enjoy these animals."

"Sure, they will, they will." laughed Gennaro, arrogantly. "We'll have a - coupon day or something."

As the tape continued - with Hammond's recorded voice saying _"- from combined revenue streams for all three parks should reach eight to nine billion dollars a year -"_ the actual Hammond continued to speak, drowning out the tape version of himself. "That's conservative, of course. There's no reason to speculate wildly."

"I've never been a rich man." stated Gennaro. "I hear it's nice. Is it nice?"

Ian Malcolm, who had been watching the screens with outright contempt, snorted, as if he'd finally had enough.

"The lack of humility before nature that's been displayed here staggers me." he began; everyone turned and looked at him. Kara's glare of death, which had been aimed at Gennaro, now aimed itself at Ian and intensified.

"Thank you, Dr. Malcolm, but I think things are a little different than you and I feared." interrupted Gennaro, brushing him aside.

"Yes, I know." stated Ian, quickly, before Gennaro could continue. They're a lot worse!"

"Now, wait a second, we haven't even see the park yet. Let's just hold out concerns until -"

"Alright Donald, alright," interrupted Hammond, silencing Gennaro again. "but just let him talk. I want to hear all viewpoints. I truly do."

"Don't you see the danger, John, inherent in what you're doing here?" continued Ian, as if his sheer disbelief of Hammond had just danced naked in front of him. "Genetic power is the most awesome force ever seen on this planet. But you wield it like a kid who's found his dad's gun!"

"If I may... It is hardly appropriate to start hurling-"

"Excuse me, excuse me -"

"- generalizations before -"

"- I'll tell you." Finally, the argument began Gennaro and Ian came to a close, with Ian having apparently won. "The problem with the scientific power you've used is it didn't require any discipline to attain it. You read what others had done and you took the next step. You didn't earn the knowledge yourselves, so you don't take the responsibility for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could, and before you knew what you had, you patented it, packaged it, slapped in on a plastic lunch box, and now you want to sell it."

"I don't think you're giving us due credit, Doctor Malcolm!" snapped James. "Our scientists - which include me and Kara - have done things no-one's ever done before."

"You're just a kid - what do you know?!" snapped Ian, silencing James; now, he had two death glares aimed at him. "Yeah, yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should. Science can create pesticides, but it can't tell us not to use them. Science can make a nuclear reactor, but it can't tell us not to build it!"

"Condors." stated Kara; all eyes now flicked to her. "Condors are on the verge of extinction - - if we were to create - no, no -" Ian had attempted to interrupt, but nothing, absolutely nothing, was going to stop Kara now. "If we'd created a flock of Condors on the island, you wouldn't have anything to say!"

"Hold on - - this isn't some species that was obliterated by deforestation or the building of a dam." interrupted Ian, now becoming very frustrated. "Dinosaurs had their shot. Nature selected them for extinction."

"I don't understand this Luddite attitude, especially from a scientist." interrupted Hammond, staring at Ian. "How could we stand in the light of discovery and not act?"

"Oh, what's so great about discovery?" stated Ian. "It's a violent, penetrative act that scars what it explores. What you call discovery I call the rape of the natural world!"

This time, Kara snorted into her cup, which she'd raised to her lips. The snort echoed for a moment, and Ian glanced to her. Fortunately - or rather, unfortunately - for her, Ellie interrupted "Well, the question is: how can you know anything about an extinct eco system and therefore, how could you assume you can control it? You have plants in this building that are poisonous - you picked them because they look good, but these are aggressive living things that have no idea what century they're in and will defend themselves. Violently, if necessary."

Exasperated, Hammond turned to Alan, who looked shell-shocked. "Dr. Grant, if there's one person who can appreciate what am I trying to do?"

Alan spoke quietly, really thrown by everything he'd seen and heard.

"The world has just changed so radically. We're all running to catch up. I don't want to jump to any conclusions, but look-" he leaned forward, a look of true concern on his face. "Dinosaurs and man - two species separated by 65 million years of evolution - have just been suddenly thrown back into the mix together. How can we possibly have the slightest idea of what to expect?"

"I don't believe it." Hammond gave a laugh of disbelief. "I don't believe it! You're meant to come down here and defend me from these characters," Here he gestured with a finger to Ian and Gennaro. "And the only ones I've got on my side - apart from my grandchildren, of course - is the bloodsucking lawyer!?

"Thank you?" questioned Gennaro.

"Not a compliment," said Kara ending the conversation.

One of the waiters came forward and whispered to Hammond.

"Well," began Hammond, standing up. "They're here."

* * *

Hammond led the group into the main entrance that they'd entered through when he'd first brought them to the visitor centre.

"You three are going to have a little company out in the park. Spend a little time with our target audience. Maybe they'll help you get the spirit of this place."

"What does he mean by "_target audience'?"_ Wondered Ian, quietly to Alan and Ellie.

Hammond stepped onto the top step: a bellow of _"GRANDPA!"_ came from the bottom level, and two children standing in the doorway to the center broke into broad smiles. Tim Murphy, the boy, was about nine years old wearing a backpack, with brown hair, a frame still slightly full with baby fat and a chubby face; Alexis, his sister, looked around twelve; she was thin, in a purple top and a pair of blue jeans with a baseball cap on. They raced across the lobby and into Hammond's arms, knocking him over on the steps. The third person, a tall lad with thick rippling muscles that strained his shirt, stubble on his chin, thick thighs, a face lined with a scar above his lip and a backpack in hand, also stood nearby. He smiled up at Kara, who blushed as red as a beetroot.

As his grandchildren bumped into him, Hammond landed on the step and laughed "Oh, whay!"

Lex and Tim were now talking over each other.

"We miss you."

"Thanks for the presents."

"We love the presents!"

"You must be careful with me." scolded Hammond, though he didn't mean a word of it. "Did you like the helicopter?"

"It was great!" whooped Tim in delight. "It drops, we were dropping!"

Hammond laughed and, getting up, pried his two youngest grandchildren off of him and led the entire group - now three people larger - outside.

Two modified Ford Explorers leaped up out of an underground garage beneath the visitor's center. They moved quietly, with a faint electronic hum, and straddled a partially buried metal rail in the middle of the road. They pulled to a stop where the group was gathered. Ellie was off to the side with Alexis, introducing herself warmly; unlike Alan, she adored children.

Hammond, with Alan, Malcolm, Kara, the muscled lad, Gennaro and James, was scolding Ian and Alan. "Have a heart gentlemen. Their parents are getting a divorce and they need the diversion. No need to involve children in nasty squabbles."

"Hey!" cried Gennaro, noticing the inside of the cars. "Where are the drivers?"

"Drivers?" inquired Hammond. "No. No drivers. They're electric cars, they run on this track in the roadway, and totally non-polluting, top of the line! Spared no expense."

"It's interactive CD-ROM!" cried Alexis in delight from inside one of the cars: unlike Tim, who preferred books, Alexis was a computer geek. "Look, see - - you just touch the right part of the screen and it talks about whatever you want."

"Lex darling, you're alright in there!" called Hammond. "Doctor Sattler, come with me. Doctor Grant, come into the second car. James, you hop in with Gennaro."

Ian, much to eagerly, said "I'm going to ride with Dr. Sattler." and passed Alan, who frowned, not liking this one bit. As Hammond, Kara and the muscled lad headed inside, he moved to follow Ian, but Tim cut him off, staring up at him, wide-eyed and fascinated.

"I read your book." squeaked Tim.

"Oh, yeah - - great." breathed Alan; he headed for the rear car, Tim following him.

"You really think dinosaurs turned into birds?" chattered Tim, excitedly. "And that's where they all went?"

Alan opened the door of the rear car and climbed in. Tim followed.

"Well, uh, a few species - - may have evolved, uh - - along those lines - - yeah."

As a mechanical voice intoned from inside: _"Two to four passengers to a car, please. Children under ten must be accompanied by an adult."_ Tim was right behind Alan, so Alan kept moving, across the back seat of the car and out the other door. But Tim followed again, still chattering on. "Because they sure don't look like birds to me. I heard a meteor hit the earth and made like this one hundred mile crater someplace down in Mexico - -"

Alan turned to him, holding out a finger. "Listen, ahh - -"

"Tim."

"Tim." repeated Alan. "Which car were you planning on - -"

"Whichever one you are."

Grant went to the front car again, opened the rear door, and held it for Tim, who climbed in the back seat, rattling on and on. James, smirking openly, locked eyes with Alan, who glared at him. He merely looked smug. Tim was still chattering on and on. "Then I heard about this thing in OMNI! About the meteor making all this heat and it made a bunch of diamond dust! And that changed the weather and they died because of the weather! Then my teacher told me about this other book by a guy named Bakker! And he said the dinosaurs died of a bunch of diseases."

_**SLAM!**_

Alan closed the car door on Tim. He turned and headed for the rear vehicle - only to bump right into Lex, who had left the car.

"She said I should ride with you because it would be good for you." said Lex, pointing at Ellie.

Alan looked over at Ellie, annoyed - she was smirking openly at her apparent victory - and sighed "She's a deeply neurotic woman."

* * *

"National Weather Service is tracking a tropical storm." Muldoon informed Hammond, Kara and the muscled lad as he clunked open the bit metal door to the main control room of Jurassic Park. "About seventy five miles west of us."

"Ay, yiy, yiy!" sighed Hammond. "_Why_ didn't I build in Orlando?"

"I'll keep an eye on it." Muldoon informed Hammond, leaning down to observe the screen. "Maybe it'll swing south like the last one."

John Raymond Arnold - a thin, chain-smoking black man with glasses who was a chronic worrier and went by _'Ray'_ to avoid confusion between him and Hammond - watched his computer screen and the weather monitors at the same time, keeping an eye on the weather. Hammond patted him on the shoulders several times.

"Ray," he said. "Start the tour programme."

Ray turned his entire chair around to face another computer. He typed into that computer - which had a blue screen full of programming on it - and then swung his chair back around to his original computer - which now had an image of the island on it. Below the image of the island was a big black button which read _"Tour Programme."_

"Hold onto your butts." said Ray, not at all confidently, but he still clicked the big black box nonetheless. On the four sides of the screen appeared green boxes, and the words _"Tour Initiated"_ appeared inside them. The two boxes on the top and bottom of the screen were smaller than the side ones.

* * *

Alan shooed Lex into the front car - where she settled herself with Tim, James and Gennaro - and with a loud chunk, the Explorers started forward along the electrical pathway. Gennaro, Tim, and James were in the front vehicle; Ian, Ellie and Alan in the rear. Lex and Tim both gave yelps of excitement as the cars started, while Gennaro looked excited.

Two enormous, primitive gates, torches blazing on either side loomed overhead in the tree filled distance. The only thing that distinguished between primative and modern was the thick white track that the cars ran on.

_"During most of your tour,"_ blared the speakers inside the cars. _"the appropriate information will be automatically selected and displayed for you. And the functioning area of the screen displays the appropriate icon."_

"Hey, look!" cried Tim, leaping forward so that he was leaning on the front passenger seat of the car that had James in it.

"Think we're gonna hit that?" Wondered Lex to her brother.

_"Welcome to Jurassic Park."_

* * *

Hammond typed away on the computer - as Kara settled herself on another, and the muscled lad began talking with a fat guy sat a little distance away - and then said "The voice you're now hearing is Richard Kiley! Spared no expense!"

The computer screen in front of him showed the front car, where Lex, Tim, Gennaro and even James all looked excited. Over her grandfather's shoulder, Kara smiled as she looked from her own computer to his, blissfully unaware of the events about to occur.

* * *

The fences that Explorers were passing were retaining walls covered with greenery and growth, to heighten the illusion of moving through a jungle.

"The accident took place in a restricted area. It would not have been available to the public access." stated Gennaro - none of the three Hammond grandchildren were listening to him "So how can the safety of the public be called into question?"

The cars came to the top of a low rise, where a break in the foliage gave them a view down a sloping field that was broken by a river. The tour voice continued. "If you look to the right, you will see a herd of the first dinosaurs on our tour, called Dilophosaurus."

In the front car, Tim and Lex practically slammed up against the windows, to get a look.

Gennaro kept talking. "The safety. That's the problem I had to answer."

"Shhh!" hissed Lex.

"I can't see." noted Tim, climbing over his sister.

"Hey!" cried James. "Head! You're on mine! Move!"

"What are we looking for?" wondered Gennaro, who hadn't been listening to the voice.

"Dilophosaurus." replied Tim, not looking back at Gennaro.

Down by the river bank there were a lot of beautiful plants, but no sign of a herd of anything. The tour voice continued anyway, as did the voice "_One of the earliest carnivores, we now know Dilophosaurus is actually poisonous, spitting its venom at its prey, causing blindness and eventually paralysis, allowing the carnivore to eat at its leisure. This makes Dilophosaurus a beautiful, but deadly addition to Jurassic Park."_

In the front car, Tim sighed. "There's nothing there!"

* * *

With the end of a large cigarette holder - rather like the ones Cruella De Vil would use - Ray tapped against the screen, as he watched the information scroll across it and stared at a picture of one of the tour cars. "Vehicle headlights are not responding." said he, looking to Kara. "They seem to be running off the car batteries."

She sighed and reached for a clipboard hanging next to Ray's chair, jotting the information down with a pen that she plucked from behind her ear.

"Item one fifty-one on today's glitch list." she said, scanning the page. "We've got all the problems of a major theme park and a major zoo - which include animal sickness, lack of viable embryos for the Stegosaurus and now the headlights running off the car battery - and the computer's not even on its feet yet."

Hammond shook his head and turned to the technician - the big fat man that the muscled lad was talking to - to his right, who still had his back to them, watching a Costa Rican game show - along with the muscled lad - on one of his monitors and drinking a Jolt cola.

"Dennis, our lives are in your hands and you have butterfingers."

The Technician turned around his chair and extended his arms in a Christ-like pose. Dennis T. Nedry was in his late thirties; he was a big guy with a constant smile that could either be laughing with you or at you, no one could ever tell.

"I am totally not appreciated in my time. You could run the entire park from this room with minimal staff for up to three days. You think that kind of automation is easy?" he took a large swig of his Jolt cola. "Or cheap? You know anybody who can network eight connection machines and debug two million lines of code for what I bid for this job? 'Cause, if you can, I'd love to see 'em try."

"I'm sorry about your financial problems, Dennis, I really am." replied Hammond, staring at him. "But they are your problems."

"Oh, your right, John, you're absolutely right!" Nedry's voice was sarcastic as hell, and Hammond knew it. "You know, everythings my problem."

"I will _not_ get drawn into another financial debate with you, Dennis. I really will not."

"It's hardly a debate at all." muttered Nedry to the muscled lad, who had been watching Hammond closely.

Hammond looked apoplectically furious, as he replied "I don't blame people for their mistakes - but I do ask that they pay for them."

"Thanks, dad." replied Nedry, sarcastically, picking up a chicken wing from his desk.

_"Dennis!"_ came the voice of Kara, as she shoved her chair backwards; it teetered on the edge of the steps leading down to Nedry's computer as she asked "The headlights?"

"Yeah, I'll debug the tour programme when they get back, ok?" questioned Nedry; Kara scoffed, Nedry bristled. "Ok?! It'll eat a lot of compute cycles, we'll lose part of the system for a while. There's a finite amount of memory - you can't use it forever. I've gotta compile for half an hour."

"Quiet!" ordered Muldoon's voice. He was staring at the tour programme; Kara and Nedry continued to argue. "_All of you! _They're approaching the Tyrannosaur Paddock."

Kara, Nedry and everyone else fell silent: the only noise left in the room was Ray taking a long drawn out puff of his cigarette.

* * *

The two Explorers drove along a high ridge and stopped at the edge of the large, open plain that was separated from the road by a fifteen-foot fence, clearly marked with _'DANGER!'_ signs and ominous-looking electrical posts. Tim, Lex and Gennaro were pressed forward against the windows, eyes wide, waiting for the main attraction; James just stared at them - he already knew what was inside.

In the paddock - which contained one of the massive mountains of Isla Nublar, namely Mount Sibo - there was a low humming sound. Out in the middle of the field, a small cage rose up into view, lifted on hydraulics from underground. The cage bars slid down, leaving the cage's occupant standing alone in the middle of the field. It was a goat, one leg chained to a stake. It looked around, confused, and bleated plaintively.

In the front car, Lex and Tim - both still pressed against the window - looked at the goat with widely different reactions.

"What's going to happen to the goat? He's going _to eat the goat?!"_ cried Lex, horrified, whirling around to James.

Tim was in heaven, breathing _"Excellent!"_; James, agreeing with him, clapped a hand on his shoulder

"What's the matter, kid, you never had lamb chops?" Gennaro asked Lex.

"I happen to be a vegetarian." stated Lex, in a tone that plainly showed she wasn't pleased.

"She's... not normal, Donald." replied James, gesturing to Lex with his head. "She's the only veggie in a family of meat eaters - I think she got it after spending a summer three years ago with great-aunt Adelaide in Spain."

The tour continued on, no sign of the Tyrannosaurus Rex. Tim sighed, sadly, wanting to see the goat be ripped to shreds. The tour cars trundled along, coming to a large field in a massive ditch which contained a herd of Triceratops.

"Hey! What?" James had leaned forward in his seat, staring at the front car. "What is Doctor Grant doi- _He's leaving the car?!_ Oh, Kara won't be pleased!" he kicked open the doorm threw off his seatbelt - which momentarily hit Gennaro in the face - and ran after Alan.

Crying _"Alan? Alan?"_ Ellie jogged along with him. One by one, the doors clunked open, allowing the others to leave the cars too.

* * *

Alamrs blared in the visitor centre; Hammond whirled around from the screen.

"Stop the programme!" he ordered, quickly. _"Stop the Programme!"_

"I've told you - how many times, Gramps? - we need locking mechanisms on the vehicle doors." Kara, clipboard in hand, came trotting up the stairs: the muscled lad, at the top, stopped too. "Wha-, Oh, Nathan, move!"

As she shoved past him, Nathan caught Nedry's eye and, noticing that Kara, Hammond, Ray and Muldoon were all crowded around the screen, went over to join him.

Nedry's screen had an image on it. Camera 130c, was staring at a metal door with '_EMBRYONIC COLD STORAGE. RESTRICTED!' _written on the glass. The image below it showed the East Docks. Nedry looked to Nathan, and Nathan looked to Nedry - they knew what they had to do. Now, the only problem was how to do it?

Nathan couldn't help but smirk at Kara's exclaimation of "I'm going to _bloody kill Cricket!_ Leaving the car while kids are in it!"

* * *

Alan, Ellie, Gennaro, Ian, James, Lex and Tim, were out in the open field, heading towards a small stand of trees. Tim dogged Grant's footsteps, so excited he could hardly keep his feet on the ground. As usual, he was chattering on. "So like I was saying, there's this other book by a guy named Bakker! And he said dinosaurs died of a bunch of diseases! He definitely didn't say they turned into birds."

"Alan? Where are we going? You see something?" inquired Ellie.

"Uh - - anybody else think we shouldn't be out here?" wondered Gennaro, aloud; his head was flicking from left to right. He was absolutely terrified, and wanted to be back in the safety of the cars.

"And his book was a lot fatter than yours." finished Tim, not realising that he had, momentarily, offended Alan severly.

"Really?" sneered Alan.

"Yours was fully illustrated, honey." soothed Ellie.

Lex tripped; Alan caught her before she could fall; asking "You ok?" he helped her up. Then, he realised she wouldn't let go of his hand. With Tim crying "Hey, come on! Hey, come on!" to him, and Lex refusing to let go of him, Alan was having a whale of a time.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Alan came to a complete halt. "Everybody stay here."

"Not bloody likely!" muttered James, pushing his way through the grass after Alan; Tim followed after his cousin, dogging his cousin's larger footsteps.

"Timmy, Timmy." called Ellie.

"Come back here, blanket head!" called Lex.

Tim and James emerged from the otherside of the grass, and James couldn't help but smile: a Triceratops, a big one, lying on its side, was blocking the light at the end of the path. It had an enormous curved shell that flanked its head, two big horns over its eyes, and a third on the end of its nose. It didn't move, just breathed, loud and raspy, blowing up a little clouds of dust with every exhalation.

"Hi everybody, don't be scared. Muldoon tranquilized her for me. She's sick." came a voice: it was Doctor Gerry Harding. Some distance away, his daughter, Jess, aged thirteen, sat in a jeep, staring down with a pair of binoculars.

Alan stood next to Harding, almost in a daze.

"Beautiful." he breathed. "Is it okay? Can I touch it?"

"Sure."

Alan walked next to the animal and started stroking its head; Ellie, having now emerged from the grass herself, gasped in both abject delight and shock as she too moved forward to the animal. Crouching down in front of the Triceratops, she breathed "Oh my god!" in delight and began stroking the horn.

"Oh Ellie." breathed Alan, happily. "This was one of my favorite dinosaurs when I was a kid and now she's the most beautiful thing I ever saw."

Ellie, laughed, then furrowed her bow, noticing something, all professional curiosity now. The animal's tongue, dark purple, drooped limply from its mouth.

"Yeah, baby girl, it's okay." breathed Ellie, as Alan had fun watching the Triceratops breath. Ellie scratched the tongue with her fingernail. A clear liquid leaked from the broken blisters.

As James reached her side, crouching beside her, he asked "Anything interesting - apart from the massive Triceratops, I mean?"

"Micro vesicles." stated Ellie, as Harding joined her and handed his penlight to her as he crouched down. "That's interesting. Thanks, what are her symptoms?"

She heard James whisper "Shh, Bakhita, shh," as he stroked the animal's horn

"Imbalance, disorientation, labored breathing." replied Harding to Ellie's question. "Seems to happen about every six weeks or so."

"Six weeks?" she took the penlight from the veterinarian and shined it in the animal's eyes.

Lex stared, both horrified and elated, as Alan leaned against the Triceratops; then, suddenly, he rose, though not by his own choice: the Triceratops's breathing meant that he was pushed up, and then flopped back down against the animal as she took and released breaths.

"These are dilated." stated Ellie, to Harding, gesturing to the Triceratops's eyes. "Take a look."

"They are?" he looked: Ellie was right. "I'll be damned."

"That's pharmacological. From local plant life." she turned and studied the surrounding landscape. Her mind was really at work, puzzling over each piece of foliage. Striding over to a plant, she asked "Is this West Indian lilac?"

"Yes. We know they're toxic, but the animals don't eat them."

"Are you sure?" wondered Ellie.

"Pretty sure." came Harding's voice in reply: after five years at Jurassic Park, he was able to be confident.

"There's only one way to be sure." stated Ellie "I have to see the dinosaur's droppings."

"Dino droppings? Droppings?" questioned Ian in disbelief.

"Yeah."

Ellie walked away: Ian looked on.

* * *

"Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, got that."

Back in the visitor centre, Muldoon was on the phone; placing it to his chest, so that the person on the other end could not hear his words, he said "That storm centre hasn't dissipated or changed course. We're going to have to cut the tour short, I'm afraid. Pick it up tomorrow where we left off."

"Are you sure we have to?" inquired Hammond.

"It's not worth taking the chance, John." interrupted Ray, before Hammond could protest any further.

"Tell them to get back into the cars." eplied Hammond.

Muldoon spoke over him, to Kara: "Sustained winds, 45 knots."

"Ladies and gentlemen," came Ray's voice over the intercom as he leaned down to a speaker on the desk. "last shuttle leaving for the dock leaves in approximately five minutes. Drop what you're doing and leave now."

_"DAMN!"_ exploded Hammond, slamming his stick onto the floor in an apoplectic fit of rage.

* * *

As the weather grew darker, Ellie, Alan, Harding, Malcolm and the three Hammond grandchildren were grouped around an enormous spoor of triceratops excreta that stood at least waist high and was covered with covered with flies.

"That is one big pile of shit!" Ian breathed, removing his black glasses and staring at the massive pile.

"You're right." negan Ellie, to Harding as she pulled her hand out of the pile with a loud squelch. "There's no trace of micro vescicles, just pollen berries. That's so weird, though. She shows all the classic signs of Meliatoxicity," thinking aloud, Ellie got up. "Every six weeks." she turned and walked out into the open field a few paces, thinking. Malcolm watched her, and looked back at the dung.

"She's, uh - - tenacious!"

"You have no idea." chuckled Alan.

"You will remember to wash your hands before you eat anything?" called Ian after Ellie; Alan followed her, then lifted his foot up in disgust as he had stepped in some of the Triceratops poo.

* * *

Nedry typed fast - faster than he'd ever typed before, knowing that more than just his job was at stake if he failed - on the keyboard of his computer. A few moments later, a red box, in the bottom left hand corner, flashed up, saying '_EXECUTE.'_

* * *

Thunder rumbled as the storm overhead was about to bust loose; Gennaro jumped and, scared of more than one thing now, put his foot down. "Doctors, if you please - - I have to insist that we get moving."

"Oh, you know, if it's alright, I'd like to stay with Dr. Harding and finish with the trike. Is that okay?" Ellie added the last part of her question to Harding.

"Sure." he replied, as if her question was something people asked every single day. "I've got a gas powered jeep. I can drop her at the visitor's center before I make the boat with the others: Jess is with me, so I'll have to drop her off."

"Great, then I'll catch up with you, if you want to go on."

"Are you sure?" asked Grant.

"I'll just finish. Yeah, I want to finish."

There was a lightning flash, with a tooth-rattling thunderclap right on its heels.

"Now." stated Gennaro.

Alan turned and followed the others, Lex right in his tracks.

Ellie and Harding went back to the triceratops, which was starting to come back to life. As Grant reached the Explorer, he turned back for one last look at Ellie. He raised his hand to wave, but she is turned the other way.

Feeling silly, he dropped his hand and went back into the woods. Just as he did, Ellie turned and waved to him, but with his back turned, he missed it too. In this way, they said goodbye.

* * *

"No, no, listen to me!" hissed Nedry; the muscled lad stared anxiously over his shoulder, keeping one eye on Kara the whole time - thankfully, she was busy reading over some official documents with her feet on the desk. "You gotta give us the time! We did a test run on this, it took us 20 minutes, I thinkwe could have pushed eighteen, but you gotta give us the fifteen minutes. Give us the fifteen minutes."

_"No promises."_ came the reply from the man on the screen; he was dressed in a yellow raincoat and was stood by one of the massive cargo ships.

"So much for our tour," began Hammond, totally missing that Nedry had now glanced over at him. "two no shows... and one sick Triceratops."

For the first time that day, Ray actually took his cigarette out of his mouth and looked at him, as he said "It could have been worse, John. A lot worse."

As he put his cigarette into his mouth, Nedry called "Anybody want a soda or something? Nathan and I are going up to the machine and I thought maybe we'd get somebody something? I haven't had sweets and I want something salted." he gulped, and paused for a brief moment. "Oh, I, uh, finished debugging the phones - I was, uh, I was going to do it, so I did, and I thought I should tell you that the system is going to be compiling for fifteen to twenty minutes, so some of the minor systems, they might go on and off, for a while: it's nothing to worry about, it's just a side effect."

Looking both anxious, yet determined, he leaned down and moved the mouse over the '_EXECUTE'_ button. He pressed it. A stopwatch flashed onto the screen and he pressed the mouse again - this time with his pinky finger. Then, he and Nathan, silently praying that they would not get caught, disappeared out of the room. Kara's eyes followed them for a moment, before she rolled her eyes and went back to her document which had the heading of '_TYLOSAUR - MOSASAUR: BY DOCTOR LAURA SORKIN'_ on it.

* * *

Nedry and Nathan waited outside outside the silver door marked '_EMBRYONIC __COLD STORAGE. RESTRICTED!'_staring at the digital stopwatch in Nedry's hand.

"Two - - one - -" Nedry spoke along with the ticks of the stopwatch.

On cue, the security lock panel went dark and the door clunked ajar.

While Nathan waited outside, anxiously looking around for anyone that could catch them, Nedry hurried in and flipped open the hatch on the bottom of the  
shaving cream can, revealing slotted compartments inside. He went to the rack of dozens of thin glass slides. A sign read '_VIABLE EMBRYOS - - HANDLE WITH EXTREME CARE!'_

He took the slides out of the rack, one by one. They were labeled: _'STEGOSAURUS', 'BRACHIOSAURUS', 'TYRANNOSAURUS REX'_ and so on for all the different embryos. Chuckling to himself, he put them into the can, and then slid the other twelve in too. Making sure that he had hidden all evidence of him ever being there, he left the room, slamming the lid on the can and sliding the door shut behind him.

* * *

A few moments later, Ray's computer beeped: he put away his cigarette lighter as glowing red and blue lines began blinking off, in succession, on his screen.

"What?" Kara inquired, leaning over his shoulder.

"Door security systems are shutting down."

"Well, Nedry did say a few of the systems would go offline, didn't he?" asked Hammond.

Then, Ray's computer flashed again. The yellow line imagery of the fences began to flash twice, before going red.

"What the hell, what the hell?" wondered Ray aloud to himself as he leaned down to the computer in front of him.

"What now?" inquired Hammond.

"Fences are failing all over the park." replied Ray, his eyes not leaving the computer screen: Kara stared, in disbelief, up at the massive image - which was also on Ray's computer - that was projected on the wall.

"Find Nedry! Check the vending machines."

"Oh, Nathan, what have you done?" breathed Kara, swiping aside a document on '_TRICERATOPS AND TOROSAURUS - RELATED?: BY DOCTOR LAURA SORKIN' _and settling into her chair. Cracking her knuckles, she took the mouse in her right hand, and moved it, ready to click.

* * *

Nedry slammed his foot on the break of the car: thrusting open the door, he sprinted from the car to the massive gate which the tour cars had passed through on the beginning of their tour. Throwing open a large rock coloured box on the side of the gate, he pulled a switch that read_ 'MANUAL OVERRIDE.' _and then ran back to the car.

Nathan shoved open the door for him and asked "Are we ready?" in a rather greedy manner, to which Nedry nodded in reply, slamming his foot on the accelerator.

* * *

Ray shoved aside the stuff on Nedry's desk, crying "Look at his workstation! He's a complete slob."

As Muldoon returned from the vending machines - alone, as Kara now suspected that Nedry and Nathan were gone - a very bad thought hit her, and she started out of her chair, reaching Ray's side in second, gripping the table as she asked "The raptor fences aren't out, are they?"

Ray typed - faster than he had ever typed before - his cigarette still hanging from his mouth: information flashed across the screen, and, slightly relieved, he said "No, they're still on."

"Why the hell would he turn the other ones off?" wondered Hammond to Muldoon.

* * *

A large metal gate - which read '_HIGH VOLTAGE'_ - swung open as Nathan shouldered it open before shouldering the second open too. Nedry brought the car along, and he clambered in, neither of them closing the voltage gate behind them, as the car splashed and sloshed through mud and water that had settled on the road.

Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, a sign reading '_EAST DOCKS' _appeared; Nedry slammed his foot on the brake, but it was to little to late, for the car was going much too fast. It slid, Nedry loosing control of the wheels, right into the sign. Nedry whirled it around to the right, and took off to the left in the car, all to aware of the embryos in the can in his pocket.

* * *

"Access main security." Ray, now speaking as he typed along, was being denied entrance into the main security programmes. "Access main security." once again, he was denied. "Access main programming."

_"ACCESS: PERMISSION DENIED... and... YOU DIDN'T SAY THE MAGIC WORD!" _flashed onto the screen. Then, it kept going, futher and further, down millions of pages of blue background.

Ray's computer flashed: a cartoon Nedry appeared on the screen, waving its little finger disapprovingly, while chanting _"Ah, ah, ah, you didn't say the magic word!"_

Livid, Ray cried "Please, god damn it! I hate this hacker crap!" and thumped the top of the computer furiously.

"Call Nedry's people in Cambridge - and find out the name of the dean of Nathan's University!" Hammond slid the phone across the desk to him, ordering the last part of the order at his granddaughter.

Ray picked up the phone, and began to call. A few moments later, he put the phone down. Looking up to Hammond, he said "Phones are out too."

Leaning on his stick, for the first time looking like the old man he actually was, Hammond asked "Where did the vehicles stop?"

Kara's fingers moved fast - very fast; so fast that the skin on the ends of her fingers was almost worn away - and her worst fear was realised. The words _'TYRANNOSAURUS PADDOCK' _flashed across the screen.

"Shit." she breathed. "The Tyrannosaur Paddock! Matilda will kill them all! She hasn't been fed for three days!"

* * *

The goat bleated, still tied to the post, as Tim, Lex, Gennaro and James all stared from the front car. A tropical storm had broken out, the rain falling in drenching sheets on the roofs and hoods of the Explorers, which had now stopped, right in front of the Tyrannosaur Paddock; James peared at Tim's watch which read 14:23 and sighed, bored, tapping his foot.

"Our radio's out too." Gennaro informed Alan, who had asked if it was working. Slamming the door, Alan sprinted back to the rear car.

"Boo!" Tim leaped the position between the seat of Gennaro and James, spooking Lex, who hadn't seen him or been paying attention to him in the slightest.

"Hey, where did you find those things?" questioned Gennaro, staring at the goggles that Tim was now wearing.

"In a box under my seat." replied Tim, holding them up and looking at them, not entirely sure as to what they were.

"Are they heavy?" inquired Gennaro, kindly.

"Yeah." replied Tim.

"Then they're expensive." laughed James.

"Put them back." ordered Gennaro. Then, he leaned back and closed his eyes.

Tim ignored him and put on the goggles, then clambered over James, over the backseat and to the boot rest of the car; Lex smacked him on the head with her hat, saying "Don't scare me!". Tim ignored her, then stared out the back window of the Explorer, to the other Explorer with Grant and Malcolm in it, which was behind them. The image was bright fluorescent green.

"Oh, cool!" cried Tim. "Night vision!"

As Tim watched, the door of the rear Explorer opened, and a hand reached out, holding an empty canteen out to catch some rain water. Swinging his legs, he continued to stare out of the back window with the goggles. A moment later, he stopped, feeling something. He pulled off the goggles and turned back, moving into the back seat with Lex, who was tapping her hat; he reached forward to still her hand.

Three thudding booms echoed.

"Can you feel that?" inquired Tim, now slightly scared.

Lex didn't answer, but James did; pale as a sheet - and with good reason - he turned to Tim and, in a quiet voice, said, "I did."

Tim leaned over to the front passenger seat and looked at the two glasses of water that sat in the recessed holes on the dashboard; James's eyes followed Tim's leaving both of them staring at the glasses. As they watched, the water in the glasses vibrated, making concentric circles; then they stopped vibrating... then vibrated again. Rhythmically. Like footsteps.

Gennaro's eyes blinked open, and, staring, scared witless, into the mirror in the front of the window, he asked "M-Maybe it's the power trying to come back on?"

Tim jumped into the back seat and put the goggles on again.

"What is that?" wondered Lex; she too, had now felt the rhythmic thudding.

Tim turned, clambered onto the boot lid, and looked out the side window. He could see the area where the goat was tethered. The chain was still there, but the goat was gone.

"Where's the goat?" Lex cried, noticing the goat was missing.

Almost as if nature was laughing at them, gloating in it's victory in proving Ian Malcolm right, the leg of the goat crashed onto the roof. Tim's mouth fell open, but no sound came out. He, Lex and James stared upwards: an animal claw, a huge one with three massive fingers, gripped the cables of the 'electrified' fence. He whipped the goggles off and pressed forward, against the window.

He stared up, up, then craned his head back further, to look out the sunroof. He could see the Tyrannosaurus Rex. It stood twenty-five feet high, forty feet long from nose to tail, with an enormous, boxlike head that must have been five feet long by itself. The remains of the goat hung out of the creature's mouth. It tilted its head back and swallowed most of the animal in one big gulp.

"Oh, Jesus! Oh, Jesus!" cried Gennaro, his hand clawing for the door handle, he shouldered it open, and took off, out of the car. He ran, as fast as he could, right past the second car, towards a cement block outhouse twenty or thirty yards away. He reached it, ducked inside, and pulled the door after him, but there was no latch, just a round hole in the unfinished door. Gennaro backed into a stall, frantic. The whole bathroom began to shake.

"He left us!" Lex began to freak out, screaming loudly, panicking madly, her eyes wide, her face pale. "He left us!"

Before James could comfort his panicking cousin, the _'DANGER!'_ sign smacked down on the hood of the first Explorer, causing him to jump out of his skin in shock. The entire fence came down, the posts collapsing, the cables snapping and swinging in the wind as The Tyrannosaurus Rex chewed its way through the barrier. They watched in horror as the Tyrannosaurus Rex stepped over the ruined barrier and into the middle of the park road. It stood there - just for a moment, as if adjusting to it's new surroundings, as if planning it's next move - swinging its head from one vehicle to the other.

Horrified, Lex breathed "Doctor Grant!"

The Tyrannosaurus Rex strode around to the side of the car and peered down, from high above; then, seeing only cloth below, as James held Tim and Lex in place. Thinking the car was empty, it strode away, staring in through the window of the second car behind. Lex broke free of James's grip and rummaged around in the back cargo area, looking for something, anything, that could get them out safely, she didn't care what. She found a flashlight and pushed the button; the front car lit up from within as Lex switched it on.

The dinosaur raised its head. It turned, slowly, from the second car to the first car, drawn by the light. Making a decision, it strode over to the first vehicle. Fast.

"Turn the light off!" cried Tim. James leaped over the backseat, clambered over Tim, and reached Lex, grabbing the torch. Tim leaped into the front seat; reaching the driver's door, with a thump, he slammed it shut. The head of The Tyrannosaurus Rex snapped in the direction of the door.

Lex stared out of the window; James, fumbling with the torch, hadn't seen where the Tyrannosaurus Rex was. At the small growl and horrified squeak from Lex, he looked up, his eyes going as wide as saucers.

"Fuck!" he squeaked.

The Tyrannosaurus Rex roared loudly, causing Tim and Lex to leap backwards to the otherside of the car in fear. It circled, slowly, bending over to look in at them through the window; it's massive yellow eye was only inches smaller than the entire window. Then, it pulled away slightly, before reaching down and bumping the car with its snout, rocking it.

Lex screamed, loudly - louder than she had ever screamed before in her life; it was so loud that it caused James to wince and drop the flashlight. Tim took his chance - wrestling with his sister over the flashlight, he just missed James, who, having seen the Tyrannosaurus Rex's head rising, had scrambled aside.

Finally, as they turned off the flashlight, the kids looked up, through the sunroof, as the Tyrannosaurus Rex's head went higher, and higher, and higher, and then the Tyrannosaurus Rex looked straight down at them through the sunroof, opened its mouth wide and - -

- - roared; it was a bone crunching, ear splintering, spine tingling roar.

The windows rattled, Lex screamed, and the Tyrannosaurus Rex struck.

_**SMASH!**_

The creature's head hit the plastic sunroof, knocking the whole frame right out of the roof of the car and down into the vehicle. With a crunch, the plexiglass came free from the window, smashing downwards towards Tim and Lex, who felt James pull them close.

* * *

_To Be Continued._


	4. Trees, Dilophosaurus and Compys

The plexiglass came crashing down out of the roof. Tim, James and Lex, hands and feet flailing wildly, pushed back on the Plexiglass; the glass groaned, crack lines raching across it as the Tyrannosarus Rex continued to push down. The Tyrannosaurus backed away, only slightly, and James saw his chance; he pulled his feet in close, then forced them upwards, only an inch of glass between him and the dinosaur's teeth. His feet slammed hard against the plexiglass, which bounced upwards, pushing the Tyrannosaurus away.

Seeing that it was not going to be able to get at the occupants of the car from the top, the Tyrannosaurus tried a different tactic; it clawed at the side of the vehicle with one of its powerful thigh legs. It pushed, starting to tip the car over.

The glass window shattered, the kids were thrown to the side, crashing hard against James who was the first to hit the other side of the car, and the Explorer tilted. The Tyrannosaurus Rex bent down, nudged the car with its head, causing it to roll up onto it's side, and started to nudge the Explorer toward the barrier. Over the barrier, there was a gentle terraced area at one side where the Tyrannosaurus Rex emerged from, but the car wasn't next to that, it was next to a sharp precipice, which was a sixty foot drop. The car, upside down now, was pushed near the edge.

The Tyrannosaurus Rex towered over the car. Like a dog, its put one foot on the chassis and tore at the undercarriage with its jaws. Biting at anything it could get a hold of, it ripped the rear axle free, tossed it aside, and bit into a tire.

The tire exploded, startling the Tyrannosaurus; it pinned the car down with one massive foot and roared; the roar was a victory roar, almost as if the Tyrannosaurus was claiming the car as its own. As it roared, the weight of the massive three toed foot began to buckle the framework, leaving Tim, James and Lex trapped inside. As the frame continued to buckle, they crawled toward the open rear window, the car collapsing in front of their eyes.

Mud and rain water poured into what little space there was left. Tim was ahead, nearing the back window, when there was a crunch, and a seat came down, pinning him. The Tyrannosaurus backed up, dragging the Explorer, swinging it left and right across the ground. It seemed ready to fling it over the edge.

Suddenly, from in front of them, an almightly flash filled the air; the Tyrannosaurus Rex looked up: it was Alan, holding a lit flare.

"Hey! Hey! Over here!"

He waved the flare. Left, then right, then left again; the Tyrannosaurus stared, mesmerized, at the flashing flare. Alan tossed the flair over the wall, and, as the Tyrannosaurus Rex lunged at it, Ian leaped out of the car and tried to scare up the T-rex's attention with his own newly lit flare. He began to wave it at the animal. Alan saw him.

_"Ian! Freeze! Freeze! Get rid of the flare!"_

"Get the kids!"

Ian inched back slowly, then took off, running for his life down the road. The Tyrannosaurus began to thunder after him, footsteps thudding loud and clear. Boom. Boom. Boom.

In the distance, the cement block outhouse - Ian's only point of apparent safety - stood idly by, the walls shaking with every thudding step the Tyrannosaurus took. A scream echoed as Gennaro slammed the door of his cubicle and Ian came flying through the wall, landing, with an almighty crunch, on the floor. Gennaro, who cowered in a corner, screamed as the head of the Tyrannosaurus Rex eploded through the front of the building after Ian, sending chunks of cement flying in all directions inside. The roof collapsed and Gennaro tried to protect himself from the falling junk; the movement of his hands gave him away.

The Tyrannosaus Rex stared downwards, it's head tilting left, then right, as it judged the best way to eat Gennaro. For a moment, Gennaro though he was safe, and let out a breath; then, the Tyrannosaurus Rex lunged, lifting Gennaro into the air, flailing him around and around and around, Gennaro screaming the whole time. His screams finally died out with a sickening crunch and a squelch.

Alan scrambled over to the car, fell onto his stomach and reached into the car. Lex was closest to him on the side of the car he'd leaned down to, but the gap was small; soaking, scarred and covered in something that may have been mud, Lex looked like she'd squeeze.

"Ugh! The seats got my feet!"

"I've got you, Lex! You're ok!" Alan pulled Lex gently through the gap, and then dove back down, staring into the car, calling "Tim? Tim?".

James's voice called "We're stuck! The seats got his feet!" back.

Lex, staring over Alan's shoulder, screamed again: it was a loud ear splintering, bone shattering scream. Alan whirled around, covering her mouth at the same time; he whispered "Shhh! Don't move! It can't see us if we don't move." Lex looked at him like he was crazy, but froze nonetheless. They waited.

_**BOOM!**_

A big Tyrannosaurus Rex footprint smacked down in front of them, sending mud squelching in all directions, as the dinosaur approached the car again; it leaned down, right past them, and sniffed the car, ragged bits of flesh and clothing, along with the lid of a pen - which were the remains of Gennaro - hanging from its teeth.

Not finding anything, the dinosaur swung its head away, snorting loudly through its nose.

Alan's hat flew off his head; the Tyrannosaurus's breath smattered mud, water and blood from their glass created wounds across the faces of Alan and Lex, who both stood stock still.

The Tyrannosaurus Rex moved to the back of the car and began to push. The car span as it was pushed from behind. Alan and Lex were pushed in front of it, helpless. They scrambled around on their knees, trying to keep ahead of the car, which the Tyrannosaurus was now pushing even closer to the edge of the barrier; they crawled quickly, but the car was moving faster, catching up on them.

Inside the car, James gave a loud scream of pain as the front passenger seat came crunching downwards, smashing hard into his head, pressing his face into the mud. A few moment's later, as Tim cried out in abject fear, desperately trying to untangle himself from the chair, James, taking several gasping breaths, came spluttering back out of the mud, as the car finally stopped crumpling and he was able, just, to slide himself closer to Tim.

On the road, the Tyrannosaurus Rex loomed over Lex and Grant, who were trapped between the car and the sixty foot drop. The Tyrannosaurus Rex bent down and saw Tim, who backed away, furiously; a long tongue stretched into the car as the Tyrannosaurus Rex's mouth opened. Tim screamed and kicked as the tongue tried, but failed to wrap around him and widthdrew from the car.

The Tyrannosaurus Rex continued pushing the car, which was now spinning on its roof. Alan and Lex scrambled, trying to avoid being caught by the T-rex and crushed by the car.

"This way!" cried Alan, as the back of the car almost crushed them against the barrier; the front end flailed, sending James sliding back down into the mud inside the car; a few moments later his head emerged and he cried "It's not mud! Close your mouth, Timmy!"

"Get back!" cried Alan. They moved, as the Tyrannosaurus Rex continued to move the car towards the edge. The Tyrannosaurus Rex roared in frustration. It bent down for one final lunge at the car. Alan saw it coming. He grabbed one of the dangling fence cables on the other side of the barrier as the car crashed against the wall, sending the two of them rocking on the wall.

"Grab a hold of me!" Alan cried.

Lex did so screaming "Timmy! Timmy!"

The cable was slick with rain, and all Alan could do was hang on as he and Lex slid rapidly down. Above them, the vehicle was now teetering over the edge, threatening to drop right on top of them if they didn't hurry.

Lex had unwittingly started to choke Alan as she held on for dear life, screaming wildly.

"You're choking me!" He cried as the car groaned, nearly over the edge now. Alan looked to the side. There were other cables, out of the line of the car's impending drop. His feet scrambling along the concrete wall, Alan tried to swing over towards one.

"Grab a wire!" he ordered of Lex; she reached out, desperately, as Alan swung left, then right, then left again, trying to build up momentum. The momentum carried him and Lex back the other way, but on the second swing Lex managed to grab hold of the second cable.

"I got it!"

The car fell, shooting downwards; Lex and Grant were clear by inches, clinging to the second cable. With a bang and crunch of metal, the car plunged into the tree.

Up on the road, the Tyrannosaurus gave a roar of victory, and then plodded away.

* * *

Back at the visitor shelter, Kara tapped her clipboard against her fingers in a rhythmic motion. Ray Arnold was listing off a huge list of things that Nedry had shut off; Ellie, who had returned moments ago and had been filled in, stared over his shoulder.

"He's turned the safety signals off," continued Ray. "He doesn't want anyone to see what he's about to do. Now, look at this next entry, it's the kicker. 'White Rabbit Object' - whatever it did, it did it all, but with keychecks off, the computer didn't file the keystrokes, so the only way to find him now is to go through his computers' lines of code one by one."

"How many lines of code are there?" inquired Ellie.

Ray took a puff of his cigarette and let out the smoke. "About two million."

"Two million." Repeated Ellie, before walking away.

Hammond was staring downwards at the table, the bold patch - which was beginning to appear on his head - gleaming with sweat.

"Robert," he said, turning to Muldoon. "I, I wonder if perhaps you would be good enough to take a guest jeep and bring back my grandchildren?"

Muldoon didn't even need a second to decide. He said "Sure," and headed towards the door, passing Ellie.

"I'm going to." She said, and followed after Muldoon.

"Me too!"

Kara threw down her clipboard and followed after Ellie, who held open the door for her; the clipboard sailed across the desk, tettered on the edge and then fell, with a thump, into the bin.

* * *

The jeep thundered over the muddy path, catching air before thumping back down; the wipers whirred quickly, left, right, left, and Nedry muttered "Should've been there by now!"

He turned to look at a sign as the jeep sped past it, then, at Nathan's cry of _"SHIIIT!"_, flicked his head back, gave a gasp of shock, and turned the wheel; it was too late. At the speed they were travelling, and with the road being as muddy as it was, the jeep just slid across the road, through a fence and down the embankment. It smashed, hard, against a fallen tree branch.

Nathan thrust open the door.

"Oh, nice job, fatso! You should've let me drive!"

"Oh, shut up!" Nedry activated the handbrake, clambered from the jeep and came around to Nathan's side; a river was gushing underneath their feet. Then, he spotted the road, and, pointing, cried "There's the road!"

He pulled the wire from the winch on the front of the car, muttered about where he could tie it to, and then slipped in the raging river. He went sliding down the embankment and landed with a thump on the ground, his glasses clattering to the ground.

"My glasses!" he cried, fumbling around for them; then, he remembered the can of embryos in his pocket, pulled himself up, said "I can buy more glasses!" and dragged the winch over to a nearby tree as Nathan came sliding down the embankment and plodded over to him, helping him to tie the winch around the tree.

Something - Nathan wasn't sure what - made a noise - which sounded like a mixture of a squeak, a cluck and a squawk - as it disappeared into the undergrowth near them. He shook it off, and tied the winch, moving around to Nedry's side of the tree.

The noice came again. Nedry peered around the tree.

"Hello?"

Then, he caught sight of the creature, said "Oh, that's nice - gotta go!" and with that, began to use the winch line to make his way back to the car. The creature squawked again; Nedry whirled around, and pulled up his hood, saying "nice boy, nice boy!"

Seeing his chance, Nathan scrambled up the embankment, leaving Nedry down below with the dinosaur. He watched as Nedry threw a stick for the creature, then plodded his way up the embankment. He slipped; the creature behind him squawked. He turned, and the creature gave a roar, the frills around its neck flying out as poisonous gloop splattered over Nedry's chins and chest.

He scrambled up the embankment and turned; the creature sprayed again, this time splattering Nedry straight in the face. He cried out, wiped at his face, then slipped, the can of embryos almost falling from his pocket. He clutched on the winch.

"Give the can to me!" called Nathan, who was leaning over the edge of the embankment. "You can use both hands to pull yourself up then!"

Nedry held the can up. Nathan took it from him. The smirk on Nathan's face told Nedry everything he needed to know; he'd been played. Nedry lunged for Nathan, who opened the door of the jeep, slamming it hard into Nedry's face, before disappearing off into the undergrowth. Nedry clambered up, and into the jeep, slamming the door behind him.

As Nathan praised himself for a job well done - and stored the can of embryos in the pocket of his trousers - he could hear Nedry give a horrified scream. He began a gentle jog in the direction the road was taking.

* * *

Alan washed his face in a fast stream of water that was gushing from a metal pipe. Then, he turned to the tree, called "Timmy! James!" and then, getting no reply, turned back to Lex.

"Lex! Lex, listen! Right here! I'm gonna look after you, but I have to go help your brother and cousin, so I want you to stay right here!"

"He left us!" breathed Lex. "HE LEFT US!"

Alan took her, hard, by the shoulder; he gave a small smile and said "But that's not what I'm gonna do. Okay?" She nodded; he said "stay here!" and headed off to the tree as she clambered into the metal pipe the water was gushing from.

Alan began to climb up the tree, calling out for Tim and James. There was no reply from the car, and it was only when he reached the top, peared into the car and said "Tim? James?" that he got any reply, though it wasn't verbal. Tim's head, dishevelled, bruised and littered with physical wounds, looked sadly up at him and James peared through the gap between the backseats.

Alan opened the door, and began to climb into the car.

"You ok?" he asked Tim.

"I threw up." Squeaked Tim; James's hand made it's way around the back of the seat near Tim and gently squeezed his shoulder.

"Oh." Breathed Alan. "Oh, that's Ok. Just, give me your hand." Tim didn't move as Alan held out a hand. "I promise I won't tell anyone you threw up, just give me your hand."

Alan leaned forward, his other hand accidentally turning the stearing wheel; the wheels of the car turned and, finally, Tim gave his hand to Alan, who helped him out of the car; James kicked down the seat, and scrambled after them, the car creaking alarmingly.

"Don't stand on the door." Ordered Alan; then, with Tim below him, and James next to him, he continued. "This isn't too bad."

"Yes, it is." Corrected Tim.

"It's just like coming out of a treehouse; your dad ever build you a tree house, Timmy?"

"No." Squeaked Tim in reply.

"Yeah, me too." Noted Alan; then, seeing Tim looking down, he lowered himself so that he was face to face with the boy. "Now, the thing about climbing is, you never look down!"

"This is impossible!" cried Tim. "How am I gonna do this!"

"We're gonna help you," James assured him, swinging down himself. Then, it happened; the car crunched and shifted. "Oh no. Tim, go!"

Tim didn't need telling twice; he began to clamber downwards. The car fell several feet, smashing through branches and leaves as it plunged downwards; Tim cried out, James threw himself over him, clutched him tight, and closed his eyes tightly as the car landed hard against a branch above them, which had, thankfully, managed to hold.

They caught their breath for a moment, before a terrifying sound hit their ears; the branch above them was breaking.

"Go, go, go, Tim, go!"

Tim scrambled downwards, James right behind him, and Alan bringing up the rear. The car crunched through branch after branch as it clattered downwards after them, pieces of jeep clattering to the floor all around them; they finally hit the floor, and the car stopped, it's nose on the ground.

"Go, Tim!" ordered Alan, but it was too late. The car tipped forward, James dove over Tim and the sun roof of the car came smashing down over them; due to the plexiglass having already been broken, they were merely surrounded by the remains of the battered car.

"Well," breathed Tim. "We're back... in the car again."

"Beelzebub's Bogbrush!" Breathed James, ruffling Tim's hair in relief. "That was close."

"Well," said Alan, in reply to Tim. "At least you're not in the tree."

With that, they wriggled out of the car, rejoined with Lex, and began to walk deeper into the trees, hoping to find a way back to the main entrance of the park.

* * *

Up on the road, where the car had fallen from, the jeep - containing Kara, Ellie and Muldoon - arrived.

"Where's the other car?!" cried Kara, leaping from the jeep and grabbing the large torch. "Where's the other car?!"

"Alan?" hollered Ellie. "Alan?!"

"Doctor Grant!?" hollered Muldoon. _"GRANT!?"_

Ellie whirled around, catching sight of the remains of the outhouse. Scrambling over to it, she stared at something. Nearby, Muldoon lifted up a piece of cement, saw the ruined bones underneath, said "I think this was Gennaro." and dropped the cement back onto the bones with a crunch.

"I think this was too." Breathed Ellie, digusted, as she pulled away from what she was looking at.

The roar of the Tyrannosaurus echoed; Ellie, Muldoon and Kara whirled around; Ellie breathed "I think it's ahead of us."

"She could be anywhere." Noted Kara, alarmedly. "With the fences down she can wander into any paddock she likes!"

A groan came from nearby; Ellie threw pieces of cement aside, as she uncovered the body underneath; it was Ian Malcolm, a thick clump of flesh taken out of his leg.

"Ian? Ian?"

Ian came too. With all the sarcasm he could muster in his current state, he said "Remind me to thank John for a lovely weekend."

Another roar came; Ellie and Muldoon flicked their torches in the direction of the roar.

"Should we chance it?" inquired Ellie.

Ian sat up, his eyes wide as he said "Please chance it."

As Muldoon hauled Ian into the jeep, Ellie and Kara plodded over to where the remains of the leaflets, from the first jeep, lay scattered on the floor. As another roar echoed, Muldoon called "Ellie, Miss Hammond, come on!"; Ellie whirled around, desperately, her torchlight flashing; it relfected off something in the tree, and then, she spotted it.

"The other car!"

That did it; Muldoon reached over Ian, grabbed some rope from just behind him, tied it to one of the remaining fence poles, and the three of them clambered down; the car, smashed, battered and utterly ruined, lay in the position it had fallen earlier. Ellie was the first to land, scrambling immediately to the car.

"Alan!?" she cried, shining her light into the car, as Muldoon called, "Doctor Grant!?"

"Cricket?! Cricket!? Answer me, you pompous parafin headed peabrain! Answer me, _THIS INSTANT!"_

Kara whirled around, her torchlight shining desperately from the tree to the car and then back to the tree. Then, her torchlight illuminated the footprints on the ground.

"They're alive! Thank god!" breathed Kara; she turned to Ellie and Muldoon. "As much as I want to go after them, the Tyrannosaur Paddock is miles wide and miles long - we could walk past them fifty times and not know - we'll have to go back to the visitor centre and get help."

Grudgingly, Ellie agreed, and the three of them clambered back up to the car. As they did so, the ground shook and Ian's eyes opened; he blinked, and then stared down at the massive Tyrannosaurus footprint which was full of water. It shook, signifying one thing.

"Anyone hear that?" breathed Ian as the footpring shook again. "It's an impact tremor - that's what it is. I'm fairly alarmed here!" Then, he spotted the others "Come on! Come on! We gotta get out of here! Right now! Now! Now! Now! Come on, come on, come on! Hey! Let's go!"

The three leaped into the car; Muldoon slammed the gas pedal to the floor and the jeep started off. With an almighty crack, the trees parted and the Tyrannosaurus emerged, roaring loudly.

It didn't even looked twice; it thundered after them, jaws snapping wildly.

_"Must go faster!"_ cried Malcolm from the back of the jeep, the Tyrannosaurus was getting closer and closer by the second. All she had to do was lunge forward and her jaws would snap shut on his leg.

Glancing over her shoulder, Ellie's eyes widened as she saw the close proximity of the Tyrannosaurus Rex, and before she could help herself an high-pitched shriek of _"SHIT!"_ escaped her panicked lips.

While Ian and Ellie panicked, Muldoon's face didn't even change as he stared in the mirror - he was a professional animal hunter; this wasn't scaring him. The Tyrannosaurus loomed down; Ian scrambled backwards, knocking the gear lever.

"Get off the stick!" roared Muldoon. "Bloody move!"

"Look out!" cried Ellie; the other's whirled around - a massive tree branch, at least the size and width of a humpback whale - was sticking out in front of them.

_"DOWN!"_ ordered Kara; she, Ellie, Muldoon and Ian ducked. The window of the jeep smashed sending glass flying and the Tyrannosaurus just sent the tree branch smashing in different directions.

The gears of the car engine clunked as Muldoon shifted the gear lever. The Tyrannosaurus brought its head down, smashing at the side of the jeep.

_"MUST! GO! FASTER!"_ hollered Ian, ducking to avoid the head as it swung back up.

"Oh, get out of the way!" Kara shoved Muldoon into the backseat and took the wheel. "You want to play, Matilda? Well, come on then!"

With that, she floored the pedal, slammed the car into gear, and then turned the wheel, sending the car skidding wildly around a corner.

_"FASTER!"_ screamed Ian. _"FASTER! FASTER! FAAASSSTTTTTEEEEEEERRRRRRR!"_

Kara slammed her foot on the pedal, the car sped up, and Matilda, the Tyrannosaurus Rex, finally stopped, no longer being able to keep up.

"Think they'll put that on the tour?" wondered Ian, sitting up, as Matilda's roar echoed; Kara flicked open the glove compartment, pulled out a rolled up magazine and smacked him over the head with it.

"Shut up! This is your fault anyway! You and your bloody Chaos Theory! If you'd just kept your mouth shut, this wouldn't have happened!"

* * *

Several miles away, frozen with fear, Lex squeaked "Are you hearing this?" as Matilda's roar echoed; Alan looked anxious, scared and very worried, while James didn't really seem bothered.

"Come on." Alan ordered, shoving Tim and Lex gently ahead of him, with James following up the rear. "Come on, in the tree."

"I hate trees!" moaned Tim, as he and Lex began to climb; Lex, always one to be safe from scary things, was ahead within seconds, desperate to get free from anything that could hurt her.

Smirking, she looked down to Tim and gloated "They don't bother me!".

"Yeah?" interrupted James, clambering up after his cousins. "Well, you weren't in the last one!"

As they reached the top and settled in, James taking a branch slightly higher than Tim, Lex and Alan, Tim cried "Hey, Look at the Brontosauruses. I mean, Brachiosaurus!"

As the Brachiosaurs bellowed, Alan smiled and said "They're singing."; he clambered up the tree, over James, who nearly fell from the tree, and onto a further branch; he settled himself, closed his hands in the required position, and made the same bellowing noises. From the trees in front of them emerged two massive Brachiosaurs.

"Hey, shh!" Lex smacked the leg of Alan, desperately, scared out of her wits. "Don't make the monsters come over here!"

"They're not monsters, Lex," replied Alan, returning to the place he'd originally taken when they'd climbed into the tree. "Just animals. These are herbivores."

"That means they only eat vegetables," noted Tim, his voice teasing, "But for you, I think they'd make an exception."

"Tim!" scolded James.

"Oh, I hate the other kind." moaned Lex.

Alan sat down; Lex and Tim snuggled up against him, and Alan gasped in pain, reaching into his trouser pocket to remove whatever was making the pain. A few moments later, he removed a large black Velociraptor claw from his pocket.

"What are you and Ellie going to do," began Lex, as Alan twirled the Velociraptor claw. "Now that you don't have to dig up dinosaurs anymore?"

"I don't know." Admitted Alan. "I guess we'll just have to evolve too."

"What do you call a blind dinosaur?" It was Tim who had asked the question, in an attempt to cheer everyone up; James, Alan and Lex looked to each other, smiling for a moment.

"I don't know," began James, reclining happily in the tree and watching the Brachiosaurus. "What do you call a blind dinosaur?"

"D'you think he saw us!" replied Tim; Alan chuckled, and Tim then asked "What do you call a blind dinosaur's dog?"

"You got me." Admitted Alan, smiling.

"D'you think he saw us rex!" chirruped Tim. Alan laughed, as did Lex, and even James, normally one to not find such childish jokes funny, cracked a smile and laughed.

"Alan?" inquired Lex. "What are we gonna do if the dinosaurs come back while we're all asleep?"

"Don't worry," soothed James. "We'll stay awake."

"All night?" inquired Lex, looking up to her cousin.

James's hand swung down, and landed on her head; he smiled. "All night."

Tim and Lex snuggled down, Tim curling up close to Alan and Lex settling herself in the crook of his arm. Once he was sure they were both asleep, he flicked the Velociraptor claw, watching it tumble, uselessly, to the ground.

* * *

Nathan thundered through the forest, panting anxiously. He scrambled around, lost, confused and now definitely scared. He'd lost the road ages ago and had kept going in a desperate attempt to find it.

When it came, the roar of the dinosaur seemed frighteningly close. Nathan spun so quickly he fell on the path, and when he looked back he thought he saw the shadow of one of those things that had killed Nedry, moving in the foliage beside the flagstone path, moving toward him.

What was it doing here? Why was it outside the fences? Nedry hadn't shut that fence down... had he?

Nathan felt a flash of rage: Nedry had made sure that anyone who crossed him wouldn't make it. He saw a Tican workman, running for his life, and took the moment to get to his feet and dash blindly into the forest on the opposite side of the path. He was plunged in darkness - he stumbled and fell, his face mashed into wet leaves and damp earth, and he staggered back up to his feet, ran onward, fell again, and then ran once more. Now he was moving down a steep hillside, and he couldn't keep his balance. He tumbled helplessly, rolling and spinning over the soft ground, before finally coming to a stop at the foot of the hill. His face splashed into shallow tepid water, which gurgled around him and ran up his nose.

He was lying face down in a little stream.

He had panicked! What a fool! He should have known better! All the stuff he'd survived already! Nathan cursed himself. As he got to his feet, he felt a sharp pain in his right ankle that brought tears to his eyes. He tested it gingerly: it might be broken. He forced himself to put his full weight on it, gritting his teeth.

Yes.

Almost certainly broken.

Lying at the bottom of the hill, Nathan heard the creature - the Dilophosaurus, or whatever it was - roar, bellowing through the jungle.

Jesus.

He shivered, hearing that sound. It was terrifying, a scream from some other world. He waited to see what would happen. What would the Dilophosaurus - or whatever it was - do? Had it already gotten that workman? He waited, hearing only the buzz of the jungle cicadas, until he realized he was holding his breath, and let out a long sigh.

With his injured ankle, he couldn't climb the hill. He would have to wait at the bottom of the ravine. After the Dilophosaurus, or whatever it was, had gone, he would call for help. Meanwhile, he was in no danger here, so he sat down heavily in the damp earth of the hillside and tried to catch his breath. _Dear God, it was hot_, he thought. Hot and humid. He felt as if he were breathing through a sponge; he took a sip of the stream, despite knowing it was unwise; he could easily be treated back at Biosyn headquarters. Then, hearing no sign of the creature, he began to climb; two feet, four feet, ten feet, twenty, then thirty - as he climbed, the sun beat down, and the time ticked by.

He looked down at the streambed, now forty feet below. It seemed like hours since he had left the trickling water and begun to climb the hill. His ankle was now swollen and dark purple. He couldn't put any weight on it at all. He was forced to hop up the hill on his other leg, which now burned with pain from the exertion.

And he was thirsty. Before leaving the stream behind, he had drunk from it, even though he knew this was unwise. Now he felt dizzy, and the world sometimes swirled around him. He was having trouble with his balance. But he knew he had to climb the hill, and get back to the path above.

Nathan thought he had heard footsteps on the path several times during the previous hour, and each time he had shouted for help. But somehow his voice hadn't carried far enough; he hadn't been rescued. And so, as the afternoon wore on, he began to realize that he would have to climb the hillside, injured leg or not. And that was what he was doing now.

Nathan shook his head, trying to clear it - He had been climbing for more than an hour, and he had gone only a third of the distance up the hill. And he was tired, panting like an old dog. His leg throbbed. He was dizzy. Of course, he knew perfectly well that he was in no danger - he was almost within sight of the path, for God's sake - but he had to admit he was tired. Sitting on the hillside, he found he didn't really want to move any more.

_And why shouldn't I be tired? _he thought. He was twenty one years old and muscular, but not an athlete - he wasn't one of those poofs that did running, or jogging; he did proper weight lifting, and anyway, twenty one was no age to be climbing around hillsides, even though Nathan was in peak condition for a man his age. Personally, he expected to live to be a hundred, or more. It was just a matter of taking care of yourself, of taking care of things as they came up. Certainly he had plenty of reasons to live.

He heard a squeaking, then a chattering sound. Some kind of small birds, hopping in the undergrowth. He'd been hearing small animals all afternoon. There were all kinds of things out here: rats, possums, snakes.

The squeaking got louder, and small bits of earth rolled down the hillside past him. Something was coming. Then he saw a dark green animal hopping down the hill toward him-and another-and another.

_Compys_, he thought with a chill.

Scavengers.

The compys didn't look dangerous. They were about as big as chickens, and they moved up and down with little nervous jerks, like chickens. But he knew they were poisonous, Biosyn had warned him about these. Their bites had a slow-acting poison that they used to kill crippled animals.

_Crippled animals_, he thought, frowning.

The first of the compys perched on the hillside, staring at him. It stayed about five feet away, beyond his reach, and just watched him. Others came down soon after, and they stood in a row. Watching. They hopped up and down and chittered and waved their little clawed hands.

"Sboo! Get out!" he said, and threw a rock.

The compys backed away, but only a foot or two. They weren't afraid. They seemed to know he couldn't hurt them.

Angrily, Nathan tore a branch from a tree and swiped at them with it. The compys dodged, nipped at the leaves, squeaked happily. They seemed to think he was playing a game.

He thought again about the poison. He remembered that one of the animal handlers had been bitten by a compy in a cage, or, so Biosyn had said. The handler, apparently, had said the poison was like a narcotic-peaceful, dreamy. No pain.

You just wanted to go to sleep.

_The hell with that_, he thought. Nathan picked up a rock, aimed carefully, and threw it, striking one compy flat in the chest. The little animal shrieked in alarm as it was knocked backward, and rolled over its tail. The other animals immediately backed away.

Better.

Nathan turned away, and started to climb the hill once more. Holding branches in both hands, he hopped on his left leg, feeling the ache in his thigh. He had not gone more than ten feet when one of the compys jumped onto his back. He flung his arms wildly, knocking the animal away, but lost his balance and slid back down the hillside. As he came to a stop, a second compy sprang forward, and took a tiny nip from his hand. He looked with horror, seeing the blood flow over his fingers. He turned and began to scramble up the hillside again.

Another compy lumped onto his shoulder, and he felt a brief pain as it bit the back of his neck. He shrieked and smacked the animal away. He turned to face the animals, breathing hard, and they stood all around him, hopping up and down and cocking their heads, watching him. From the bite on his neck, he felt warmth flow through his shoulders, down his spine.

Lying on his back on the hillside, he began to feel strangely relaxed, detached from himself. But he realized that nothing was wrong. No error had been made. He'd be found and Biosyn would get what he promised. Nathan lay very still, as still as a child in its crib, and he felt wonderfully peaceful. When the next compy came up and bit his ankle, he made only a halfhearted effort to kick it away. The little animals edged closer. Soon they were chattering all around him, like excited birds. He raised his head as another compy jumped onto his chest, the animal surprisingly light and delicate. Nathan felt only a slight pain, very slight, as the compy bent to chew his neck.

The last thing he felt was one of the Compy's rip out an eye, before everything went black.

* * *

_To Be Continued._


End file.
